The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-10-06
Interpreting
The War
BY KIRKE l.. SIMPSON
Associated Press War ANALYST

Associated Press war Analyst
Even on large scale Europea,
maps, the American made Ubach,
Beggendorf dent in the Nazi siee.
fried line defenses just north q,
haH-encircled Aachen looms oddly
small for the Importance attached
to it in both German and Allied
battle concepts.
It's indicated north south bas.
line along the German-Dutch from.
tier measures some eight miles al
most. It's eastern apex at Beggen.
do7f lies hardly three miles within
Germany. Yet what is happening
or may soon happen within that
meager salient could write tn.
name Of some little German ham.
let into history as the scene O,
one of the decisive battles of thi.
war.
The crisis of the fight is close
at hand by every criterion. Its ap.
proach can be read into the des.
pe-ation with which Nazi com.
manders are seeking to plug til.
leak in the Siegfried defensive dixie
before a flood tide Of American
arnor comes rolling through.
Front line advices confirm the
impression that, shallow as it still
| is. the Ubach Beggendorf salient
has definitely pierced Nazi fixed
defenses.. Advancing tanks and
foot troops are dealing now with
extemporized German defenses
with foxhole stands and slag-pile
gun nests. Mobile batteries rushed
up in a frenzied effort, have re.
placed fixed Notifications left be.
hind in the slogging First army
push.
Field reports say the immediat.
trend of the American advance be.
yond captured Beggendorf is east
and southeast. Coupled with the
dormant and even deeper Ameri.
can salient south of Aachen reach.
ing eastward beyond Stolberg, a
ring of steel is being slowly forged
about Aachen itself and its Ger
man garrison. A second northward
escape route, the Aachen-Gladbach
highway, has been cut by Ameri.
can troops leaving only the multi.
pie roads to Cologne open to the
Aachen garrison for retreat.
Capture of Aachen, or its encir.
clement, still seems but an Incl.
dental objective of the First army
offensive, however. Judged by the
terrain difficulties involved, its
major purpose must be to turn
northward once a deep break
through is attained, striking along
the flat lands Of the plain west Of
the Rhine in rear Of the Aachen.
Kleve segment of the Siegfried line
against which American and Brit.
ish comrades are exerting contin.
uous pressure short Of full scale
attacks.
Serious undermining Of that Ger
man frontier defense system from
the south must inevitably lead to
a Nazi flight behind the Rhine it.
self, and expose the Arnhem-Em-
merich Dutch gateway to the norta
German plain to British assault
There were definite indications
that a new British break through
drive from the now firmly consol-
idated bridgehead over the main
Rhine north of Nijmegen is close
at hand to match the American
denting of Siegfried fixed fortifi-
cations southwark in the Ubach-
Beggerdorf salient.
Nazi forces clirging to the mar.
row river-girt strip between the
two arms Of the lower Rhine south
Of Anthem are slowly being push.
ed back against the lesser Rhine
in obvious preparation for renewal
of the drive at the Arnhem-Em.
merich gateway.