[Bodston]

Battle of the Ardennes intensifies

Friday 5 January 1945
The German Wehrmacht High Command reported:
Yesterday the battle in the northern Ardennes increased in violence still further. In combined fire by all arms, the American divisions tried once again to break through but bogged down after slight initial success. In the area of Bastogne, our armoured forces continued to exert strong pressure; enemy attacks failed. Our front lines are shifting between Saargemünd and the Rhine. Despite counterattacks by enemy troop reinforcements, our soldiers are advancing again, especially in the lower Vosges mountains in northeastern France. We have liberated the town of Weissenburg in Alsace, as well as a number of places in Lorraine, and have crossed the Lauter river to the south...

Beromünster Radio (Switzerland)

Friday 5 January 1945:
On the Eastern Front, despite occasional violent actions, the front lines have for some time remained stable in (the west Latvian region of) Kurland on the Baltic, on the border of East Prussia, and in Poland. . . Meanwhile, the German Wehrmacht has found the strength in recent weeks to mount fresh offensive thrusts. The (official Nazi party newspaper the) Völkischer Beobachter's prediction remains unfulfilled that Rundstedt's offensive in the Ardennes would in a few weeks enable the Germans to regain the initiative. It is already being admitted in Berlin that the offensive initiative in the embattled Ardennes salient has once again passed to the Americans.