The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-10-26

war lS VhIldplS cAPSAtCApSSs AV some points, such as before Metz, you must crawl to avoid casting silhouette on the skyline and peer out with the utmost caution at the German works which seem remark ably close. At other points, such as Aachen, you see just a sign in Eng fish saying: "Entering Germany; then another sign: Shortest route to New York and San Francisco Straight Ahead via Berlin. You pass deserted homes with smashed windows and furniture scattered around. Nobody is visible, not even lonely rooster or cat.
 Having passed the city limits, we arrived at a German gasthous, or inn, where, before Hitler started out to conquer the world, Aacheners drank their beer in hofbrau sur- roundings where sign in German script, Zum Garten, formerly showed the path to a shady grove for beer slipping. It now leads to 0 group of Tank endorsements, The nearby steady rumble of battle sub- stitutes fo ran oomph German band.
 Smiling Boy
 You ask 0 smiling boy with a carbine and @ German lugger in his belt, also a wad of tobacco in his cheek: "Where's the frontP" he replies with a jerk of his thumb; This is it." AS we stood on a wooded hillside, at the head of troll ley tracks down which trolley cars crammed with explosives had been coasted into German strongholds, we could hear the voices of Ameri- can kids in the slit trenches just ahead chattering back and forth. Hey, Jack! Are you all right9" and the answer: Sure, Bill. Doing fine"
 The city itself looked intact, although many buildings have been bombed, artillery-blasted a n d burned. Their windows stare va cantly. However, some buildings still stood up boldly, especially one with huge red cross painted on the roof. Graceful church spires still stood. Two-thirds of the city was quiet. That portion was already occupied occupied in scientific ad- vance, house by house, boring through walls carefully, cautiously mopping up, without any life-fast- ing Hollywood episodes.
 The other end of town was a mass and black smoke shot through With brilliant orange and red flames from American artillery. Sudden brilliant fires popped up here and there and burned greedily. It wasn't Q deVas- tating drumflre. The shells went in- to Aachen with the leisurely pre- cislon of baseballs being thrown by pitcher warming up in the bull pen,
 A short time before, an American patrol had brought in a group Of prisoners all of whom said they were over 35 years of age.
 The ground was Uttered with Ger man propaganda leaflets dropped from planes the night before. These ridiculed the American war loan drives, advised Americans that wo- men loved lusty men, not cripples, carried the old wheeze that Amer jeans were fighting Britain's war, and threatened that now that you have come to our frontiers, we shall show you how we fight"
 These pamphlets were neatly done. Some looked exactly like let ters scrubbed by soldiers to their wives. However, the only effect they had on the c. Is was amusement. Those who had the time to spare, were busily engaged In collecting them as souvenirs. Americans morale, like their fighting, Is at 6 peak. It is not dampened by chilling rains and the soggy soil from which water seeps into newly dug slit trenches and by occasional short ra- tions. The c. I,s sense of humor was shown by one sign, erected over Q new trench Private. Keep out"
 At some points along the line, the Germans are sending back return mall" which makes you look around carefully for shelter, just in case. This is particularly true around Metz, also in the woods south of Aachen. Farther north, especially in Holland, they are fighting harder and thrown in occasional counter attacks, evidently anticipating a further effort to turn their line from the north and break into the Ruhr.