Join With British For Battle ; Bridgehead Driven Over Twente Canal (By Ross 1lfunro, Canadian Press) War Correspondent) With the 1st Canadian Arrny in Northern Holland, April 5.--(CP Cable)-Driv- ing northward from the cast- of the Germans withdrew after in- ~ern end of the Twente canal, flicting slight casualties on the Canadian tanks and infantry Canadians. to-day advanced five miles to Keep Escape Open enter the large At the southwestern end of the town of Almelo, where fight- line yesterday, Canadian and Brit- ; ink; ish patrols which crossed the Neder is under way in the town Rhine in the Arnhem sector met square against German ma- machine-gun fire and withdrew chine-gunners and snipers. after reconnaissance . The enemy stand north of the Fashion Great Trap Twente canal, which joins the Ijssel i , The gains were made from the river two miles north of was expected to be short-lived. bridgehead established on the north There are only about 15,000 combat side of the canal by the 4th Cana- 'soldiers in the force of 50,000 Ger- dian Armoured Division at Delden, mans, the rest being administrative personnel, crews for V - bomb 3',- miles Hengelc west of Hengelo. ',launchings and Netherlands S.S. is eight miles southeast of Almelo troops who joined the Germans be- Another bridgehead has been cause they were collaborators or through force. driven across the canal farther These Netherlanders, who fear west, east of Zutphen as the Cana- to desert because of possible Ger- dians fashioned a trap for some man vengeance against their fam- ilies, have the unenviable job of j 50,000 Germans in western Hol- forming part of the rearguard seek- land . ing stem the Canadian surge. At end of the to the southwestern In making their stand, short- 50-mile front held by Gen. Crerar's lived as it is likely to be, north of British forces, Canadian and troops the canal, the Germans are seeking %were poised opposite Arnhem on to keep open the escape route for the south bank of thg 250-foot-wide their forces from areas west and Neder Rhine. northwest of Arnhem . While the The first tanks crossed the canal main escape route is along one atop lockgates even before a bridge road through Zwolle, 25 miles north was built. Opposition thinned out of Zutphen, other Germans prob- in this sector but ne" . e tern ; ,ably are getting out by barge from end of' the canal, 1 jArmsterdarn or by a long cause- the Ijssel river north of Zutphen, ,way across the northern side of other Canadian forces were engag- (the Zuider Zee. ed in stiff fighting along the peri- meter of the western bridgehead . Still in Zutphen The Canadians are still fighting in Zutphen, less than 25 miles southeast of the Zuider Zee, goal of Gen. Crerar's trap-closing thrust. They are fighting also in Doesburg on the Ijssel river, midway between Zutphen and the Arnhem sector 16 miles southwest of Zutphen. But there were no significant develop- ments on this sector . The Germans probably have withdrawn most of their best troops from Holland by now and once the present rear-guard screen is punctured, as it was in the thrust to Almelo on the eastern flank, the liberation of all Holland will fol- low. It may take a week or two. Remove Bomb Menace The V-2 menace from Holland is believed now to have been nearly removed as far as southern Eng- land is concerned, for the entry into Almelo cuts the roads and the rail lines to Deventer and Zwolle, key German communications to launch- ing sites. In the push towards Almelo, On- tario infantry advanced north more than four miles yesterday. Stiff initial resistance from the newly-formed and hastily-trained German Hermann Division crum- bled after a four-hour battle which, cost the Germans 40 counted dead' and 15 prisoners. The remainder