Evening star., 1944-11-30
Western Front

This tailed roughly with Allied
front reports)
1t. Gen. Alexander M. Patchs 7th
Army, thanking the Sd to the SOUTH
east, was bursting the bonds of Ger
man resistance along its line. It
sidestepped the strongly held French
rail center of Hagenau, 81 miles
southwest of karlsruhe, where the
Germans have stores of ammunition
and fuel. Gen. Patch aimed his
divisions straight at karlsruhe, g
city Of 10000 beyond the Rhine in
the shelter of the Siegfried Line.
Half of Alsatian Plain Taken.
1.-The American 7th and-tfie French
1st Armies had wrested half the
Alsatian Plain from the enemy and
had driven Is miles south of Stras-
bourg. The French were moving
slowly up from Mulhouse to tighten
the Colmar clamp to roughly 40
miles.
The American 1st Army in the
Hurtgen Forest area was digging the
Germans from cellars in Merode, 31a
miles from Duren, in yard-by- yard
advance, North of Grosshau, the
Americans advanced a half mile.
In Hafhardt, the Americans
fought within miles of Duren.
Standstill fighting continued in
the hamlet of linden. The Amer
leans held the west end of -
bridge over the little river there
and the Germans held the other
size. The bridge at Maersdorf was
blown up.
Stubborn Opposition.
The new attack by the 9th Army
northeast of Geilenkirchen ran into
alert and stubborn opposition, but
carried swiftly through old pill
boxes of the Siegfried Line yeSter-
day before resolute counterattacks
slowed its momentum
Field dispatches reported good
progress" even though the Nazis
opened flood gates of Roer River
dams, inundating its valley to
widths of nearly a mile.
Beck burned while battle ragged
in its streets.
The Americans stood on the Roer
for several miles north and south
of the fortified town of Julich,
miles northwest of Duren. There
the Germans wrecked the bridge.
Allied air might hit German guns
and communications all along the
front and we'll back in the Cologne
Plain.
An ammunition dump was ex-
ploded, Enemy transport was raked
all the way from the Dutch coast
to the Ruhr.
Cologne % Miles Away.
The nearest approach to Cologne
still was % miles.
The offensive was two weeks old
today, excluding the preliminary
probing around Metz by Gen. Pat
tons Sd Army.
| Opposition against Gen. Patton
and Gen. Patch was thickening as
their troops came under the long
guns of the Siegfried Line.
Gen. Patton's pace was slower
than formerly and there was evil
dence that the Germans were COM
mitting more of their reserves tc
save the Saar. it's coal and steel and
synthetic OIL
The Sd Army moved to within 3
miles of the border town of Saar-
lautern. which has a population OF
$4,000. 1t moved beyond Gerflanger
to capture high ground overlooking
the Saar River within 2 miles o1
Merzig 100000. guardian town o1
| the Saar Valley road to Mainz ano
Frankfurt.
Other men of the Sd Army were
near Felsberg and at LHopital, or
the German frontier 13 miles west o1
Saarbrucken. Troops southwest oI
Saarbrucken G35,O0O) were only s
miles away. Street fighting was re.
ported in Sarre Union and infantry
was within 71a miles of Sarregue.
mines 14,000).
One infantry column of the 7tt
Army advanced nearly miles north
of the Hagenau-Saarbrucken raj
line, approaching Offwiller. f1ankine
Hagenau to the west. Hageriau was
increasingly threatened by a head-or
assault. Troops plunging north OF
Niederschaeffo folsheim in 21a mile
advance were within IL miles oI
Hagenau. which has population OF
| Is 900.