Evening star., 1944-11-22
Yanks % Miles From Strasbourq;
German Vosges Front Co||apses
Big onk Battles
Reported Along
Entire Line
BULLETIN.

BULLETIN.
ESCHWEILER, G ermany,
P.-EschWeiler, 6 miles north
east of Aachen, is in American
hands tonight-a Sodden ruin
of smashed and damaged
buildings.
By the Associated Press.
LONDON, Nov. 22.-MulhouSe
and Metz fell today to Allied
Armies driving swiftly on the
Rhine through the shattered
German front in Alsace-Lor-
raine, and the Paris radio said
the French were within 19 miles
of Strasbourg.
The Paris report said French
troops had captured Saverne, i'll the
gap leading from fallen Sarrebourg
to Strasbourg, capital of Alsace-
Lorraine and largest French city
still in enemy hands. Headquarters
advices placed the American 7th
Army % miles away. Gen. Eisen-
hoWerS communiQue said Allied in
fantry and armor were plunging
east against crumbling resistance
on wide front"
The whole German 18th Army of
10000 or so survivors was in immi-
nent peril: part of its staff was cap
tured at Mulhouse by the French
1st Army.
French troops are at the gates
of Colmar after advancing %
miles from Nulhouse, Gen.
Charles de Gaulle said in a
broadcast report recorded by the
Federal Communications Com
mission. Colmar, city of $4,000,
is capital of Upper Alsace, the
center of six roads and 40 miles
south of StrasbourgJ
High Ground Taken Near Aachen.
The American 9th Army hacked
out important but less spectacular
gains within sight Of the Roer River
on the Aachen front. In bitter
weather and against Savega resist
ance, 1t Gen. William H. Simpsons
men captured high ground over
looking Linnich and Julich on the
Roer, first major terrain barrier on
the Cologne Plain.
They fought around Fronthoven.
Berlin said tank spearhead has
reached Bourheim, 25 miles from
the western limits of the ruins of
Cologne.
"a British broadcast. as re-
corded by NBC, said 9th Army
troops had captured Julich and
IWo nearby towns on the RoerJ
The breakthrough of the Amer
lean 7th and the French 1st Armies
on the southern end of the Western
Front erased a definite German
front along the northern slope of
the difficult Vosges Mountains, en-
crusted in snow.
Metz Resistance Dissolves.
The last German resistance dis
solved in Metz and the official fall
of that fortress city was announced
while troops of four divisions of the
Sd Army were cleaning their guns.
1t. Gen. George S. Patton, jr, be-
came the first commander since
Attila the Hun to capture the city
frontally. Attila seized it 1900
years ago. Metz, a city of 3,119, is
30 miles northwest of threatened
Strasbourg and was ringed by 40 or
so forts which made it one of the
strongest positions in the world.
More than 1000 prisoners surren-
dered with the staff officers at Null
house, normally a humming indus
trial city of 96,697. 1t is 81 miles
southwest of Strasbourg. Once free
city of Alsace, it lies 9 miles from
the German frontier on the Rhine
Canal.
10 Miles Past Sarrebourg.
The drive on Strasbourg, which
has a population of $4,000, carried
through German defenses before
the Saverne Gap and 10 miles be-
yond the French communications
center of Sarrebourg, where three
railroads and II highways converge.
Slow and painful progress was re-
ported in the Aachen sector in the
north, where Americans fought
nearly half mile into industrial
EschWeiler and drove the Germans
back against the Roer.
German broadcasts said great
tank battles were being fought all
the way from Aachen to the Swiss
border and exceed in violence any,
thing hitherto known since the in
vasion of Europe"
"Von Rundstedt's armies have to
cope with task of the greatest
magnitude, but, Notwithstanding
some local successes of the Allies,
the positions of the German forces
in the west are still very strong, -
Berlin said.
Violent street fighting continued
in the southern part of Belfort, and
a French communique said "the fall
of the citadel is Imminent"
10000 Nazis Sealed Back.
1t was estimated that 10000 Ger
mans were sealed back against theil
homeland border south of Stras-
bourg in positions of rising peril
With the Nazi line collapsed in Lor-
raine, only three bridges were re-
ported intact along 40-mile stretch
of the broad and swift Rhine south
OF Strasbourg.
The Germans were reported hastily
(See WESTERN FRONT. Page A-3)
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