Evening star., 1944-12-06
MAP on Page A-5.J
By the Associated Press.

Ey the Associated Press
PARIS, Dec. 6.-The American
Sd Army today battered across
the Saar River at six places
burst into SarreguemineS and
drove down the last miles tC
Saarbrucken, burning capital OF
the Saarland and the whole key
to the Reich German coal and
iron basin.
1t. Gen. George S. Pattons patrols
crossed the river at a seventh place
at Merzig. 16 miles northwest of
invested Saarlautern. where Ger
mans still held out in strong knots
around concrete advance posts of
the Siegfried Line.
tToday's German communioue
implied the Nazis had lost Saar-
lautern completely. Our pillbox
garrisons east of Saarlautern are
Waging tough battle against the
attacking enemy, strong in num-
Der, said the communique,
broadcast by Berlin and recorded
by the Associated Press. No men,
ton was made, as on yesterday.
of fightng within the city Amer
ican advances along the Saar
front were acknowledged.
Fight Into Siegfried Line.
Third Army assault troops fought
into the Siegfried Line itself at two
places beyond the river in the Saar-
lautern area.
Texans of the Goth Infantry
crossed the Saar early today in
assault boats at four new places in
2l2-mile stretch between Merzig
and Saarlautern. They fought in
the hills on the east bank of the
river at the edge OF the Siegfried
Line in a rain of rifle and machine
gun fire.
Supreme Allied headquarters re-
garded the four new Saar crossings
as single bridgehead, the third
forged this week All along the So
mile front from Merzig to Sarre
Union natural defenses of the Ger
mans were being negotiated.
tThe Germans asserted that
American shock formations.
= which crossed the Saar recently
at Merzig, were annihilated.
Saarbrucken Peril Increases.
Saarbrucken. the Little Pitts
burgh' of the 726 square miles of
the Saarland. was in great and in
creasing peril as shells landed
among its thickets of factory Chin
neys. smoking as they turned out
war material for Hitler The Amer
leans were within sight of the city.
Gen Patton's right and the flank
ing American 7th Army of 1t. Gen.
Alexander M. Patch squeezed down
the German hold on Northern Lor-
raine-the karlsruhe corner-to a
strip no more than so miles long
and only to 20 miles deep. The
Patton troops still poured through
the original Saar bridgehead inside
Saarlautern and through the second
gap thrown in the Saar defenses
south of that city last night. The
exact locations of the assaults on
the Siegfried Line itself were not
specified.
Troops within sight of Saarbrucken
from heights miles away set parts
of it aflame with constant and in
creasing barrages. Saareguemines,
French border town of $4,000, lies
miles southeast of Saarbrucken,
which has a population of $4,000.
The 35th Infantry Division ad-
vanced up to miles in liaison with
tanks to enter the edge of Sarregue-
mines, itself a major coal producer
Troops closed on the town from two
sides. Off to the right of Gen. Pat
tons 40-mile front, solidly inside
Germany, the 4th Armored and Goth
Infantry Divisions rolled up to 8
miles northWard through Lorraine
toward the Siegfried Line.
Roer River Front Quiet.
Comparative quiet prevailed again
on the Roer River front within %
miles of Cologne. 1t. Gen. Courtney
H. Hodges 1st Army completed the
capture of Bergstein, at the edge of
Hurtgen forest. Bergstein lies half