Evening star., 1944-09-16
Western Front
Continued From First Page.)

and driven across the Meuse-
Schelde Canal 'in force"
Besides their power drive beyond
encircled Aachen, q Siegfried for
tress, American lst Army men deep
ened two other wedges into the for
tification system, and made fourth
crossing Of the Reichs frontier.
The front at Aachen was widened
to Is miles with capture OF Lam
mersdorf to the southeast. Ger
man broadcasts reported street
fighting in Aachen.
g The Berlin radio indicated the
United States Sd Army sweep east
Of Nancy in the south was ap-
preaching the Rhine. "A fiuctuat-
ing battle" is on in the Eastern
Vosges Mountains which come down
to the Rhine, it declared.
Moselle Line Caved In.
A front dispatch last night said
resistance far beyond Nancy into
the Vosges toward the German bor-
der. so to 10 miles away, was scat
tered only after a scissors attack
had caved in the whole south end
Of the Germans Moselle Line. The
armored drive of the Sd Army was
underway again, it said. and soon
had pushed 10 to Is miles beyond
Nancy.
The fourth crossing Of the Ger
man frontier came SO miles below
Aachen, and about midway between
the thrusts already denting Nazi
Notifications near Trier and Prum
Supreme headquarters declared a
grand Allied drive was beating east
ward along a curving 500-mile front
from the Swiss frontier south of
Belfort to the Channel coast around
the Schelde Estuary near the Dutch
border.
The drive beyond Aachen appar-
emily contained the gravest threat
to the Germans.
Berlin 315 Miles Away.
Although there was no doubt that
the main steel and concrete de-
fenses Of the Siegfried Line had
been preached, supreme headquar-
tiers took the oficial view that more
Of the lines position lie ahead of
the 1st Army spearhsad. which was
driving down the last 30 miles
toward Cologne and the Rhine River
and pointed toward Berlin, BIS miles
away.
1t was said to be difficult to tell
Immediately when the American
troops actually were through the
last Of the deep defense zone. AT
least one more belt of minefields
pillboxes and gunposts may be found
west Of the Rhine.
Aachen itself, the first great fort
center to be pinched out and q
guardian Of the invasion route tc
the German capital along the north
ern European plan. was closed in a
Tightening iron ring and appeared
about to fall.
A front line dispatch said Marshal
Karl Rudolf Gerd Won Rundstedt
Prussian strategist. was believed to
have returned as the top German
commander in the west, apparently
replacing Marshal Walther Won
Model.
Both Marshal Guenther Won Kluge
and Marshal Edwin Rommel were
defeated in the battle for Normandy
Won Kluge now is reported dead and
Rommel Is said to be seriously in
jured. Model was reported in COM
mand only few days.
Wallendorf, l mile inside Ger
many, was captured in the fourth
crossing of the Reich frontier. A
front dispatch said it was reported
at United States Sd Army headquar-
tiers that every building in Wallen-
dorf was burned yesterday because
of persistent sniping and that q
nearby village was subjected to q
similar scorching for the same rea-
son.
The German radio said German
and American forces clashed heavily
east of the Sure River in the direc-
ton of Bitburg. IL miles inside the
German frontier. Bitburg Is Is
miles northwest of Trier. Front re-
ports previously placed American
units 10 miles inside Germany in
that general area.
The Germans said the Americans
were working along the Eifel Noun
tains, a range overlooking the Mo-
selle River as it runs northeast
toward the Rhine at Coblenz.
American Sd Army troops fighting
in Eastern France virtually wiped
out the German 1l2th Panzer Bri-
gade and the 10th Infantry Division
in fighting preceding the capture
Of Epinal, below Nancy. The Amer
leans also repulsed heavy German
tank-led counterattack which re-
captured the one tiny village east
Of Pont-a-Mousson.
These were the focal points oi
the United States 1st Army assault.
l. The left wing Of 1t. Gen
Courtney H. Hodges command
swept through the liberated Dutch
key town Of Maastricht without
pause and raced east toward thu
German Ruhr against opposition
that still had not stifiened. Thi!
operation threatened the 70 mile.
Of the Siegfried Line extending
north from Aachen to Kleve.
Aachen Hemmed In.
2. Aachen was hemmed In tight
Tank-supported infantrymen strucl
swiftly 8 miles or more east Of thu
town onto q wide Nazi-built supel
0o-mile-an-hour highway LEADING
to Cologne on the Rhine. The Amer,
leans captured Stolberg and tool
Busbach, az miles farther south
'nsrs breaking into the rolling