The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-12-01

Patton'S Third Army forces also came under heavy fire as they stbabed through to the west bank of the Saar river at three points nearly five miles inside Germany's Saar basin. One column pounded up the river less than half mile from Merzig in the pre-dawn darkness of a. m. just as the Germans blew up bridge spanning the stream.
 The Germans appeared to be dig 'ging in for last-ditch stands on the east banks of both the Roer and Saar rivers, determined to halt the two growing American penetrations of the Reich short of the Rhine re- gardless of cost. The Third Army was facing belt of Siegfried line defenses 10 miles deep behind both Merzig and Saarlautern, Il miles to the southeast.
 German resistance also Stiffened in narrowing eastern pockets ot eastern France still in enemy hands, but the American Seventh, French First and elemnetS of the Third Army hacked out limited gains. One Seventh Army column was only one to two miles from Haguenau, key to the remaining enemy communica- tions north of Strasbourg.
 A Swiss dispatch said French troops also virtually completed the liquidation of the last German bridgehead west of the Rhine south west of Belfort with the occupation of Hueningue, opposite the Swiss city of Basel.
 Roaring Battle
 In the roaring battle of the Col ogne Plain, Lieutenant General William H. Simpsons Ninth Army forces cleared Lindern, two miles northwest of Linnich, and Welz, one mile souht, pushed into the out skirts of Flossdorf, one and a half miles southeast.
 Other Ninth Army trops, slowly closing pincerS around Linnich, fought through the streets of Flossdorf and Roerdorf, just south east of Linnich, and Beeck, two and a half miles west. Fifty-one prison CTS were captured in the Linnich area yesterday.
 Linnich, biggest town yet to come under assault from the Ninth Army, is the northern anchor of the Ger mans Roer River line and lies 27 miles west of Cologne and 26 miles southwest of Dusseldorf.
 Southeast of Linnich, Ninth Army combat teams consolidated their hold on the west bank of the Roer as far south as point east of Alt dorf. The east bank fortress of Ju- lich, six miles southeast of Linnich already was under American artil- lery fire.
 Lines Pressed Back
 A German DNB dispatch acknow- ledgNd that NaN lines had been pressed back" several hundred yards southwest of Linnich by a ,arge-Scale American attack.
 Air reconnaissance indicated that the Germans were strengthening their positions all along the east bank of the Roer, digging in gen. orally along 8 line paralleling the railroad skirting the river itself.
 Weather conditions slightly im- proved along the Roer front, prom ising increased aerial support dur ing the day.
 On the Ninth Army's southern flank, Lieutenant General Courtney H. Hodges American First Army fought with tanks, flame throwers and Tommy guns in an effort to clear the Germans fro mthe ruins of Lammersdorf and linden, five miles northwest of Duren.
 The Americans captured Lamers- dorf yesterday, were driven out by 8 counter-a and then smashed back into the town. The Germans destroyed bridges across the Inde river, a tributary of the Roer, in both Inden and Lamersdorf.
 Street Battle
 Some three and half miles west of Duren, otheT First Army troops