Evening star., 1944-12-15
Putch's Forces
Invade Reich
Near Karlsruhe
MAP on Page AL
By the Associated Press.

ander M. Patch's American 7th
Army invaded Germany today
driving across the northeast tip
of Alsace into the old Bavarian
Palatinate less than 7 miles from
Karlsruhe and 35 miles from
Mannheim and Ludwigshafen, all
great industrial cities of the
Rhineland.
The 7th Army was the fourth
American army to trample German
soil. 1t crossed the frontier ex-
actly four months after wading
ashore on the French Riviera, 425
airline miles to the south, but much
farther as it wound through the
mountains of Southern and Eastern
France.
1t. Gen. Courtney H. Hodges 1st
Army and 1t. Gen. William H.
Simpsons 9th Army. first to break
into Germany, were drawn up along
the Roer River Is miles beyond
Aachen where the Siegfried Line
was first broken in September. The
bitter fighting appeared to be sub
siding
Patton Presses Gains.
1t. Gen. George s. Patton's Sd
Army, which crashed into the in
dustrial Saarland last month, was
hacking it's way slowly forward in
the first works of the Siegfried for
tiflcations on the 7th Army's left.
Six of Gen. Eisenhower's armies
now are inside Germany.
The British I'd Army holds a bit
of Reich soil around Geilenkirchen
The Canadian 1st Army is in the De
Wyler Forest miles from Kleve
northern end of the Siegfried Line
The Allied 1st Air-borne Army and
the French 1st Army have not yet
entered Germany, but the French
are on or near the Rhine for IS air.
line miles from Strasbourg south to
Switzerland.
Gen. Patch's shock troops crossed
the frontier at 1850 pm. A month
earlier, Gen. Patch broke the strong
German line in the Vosges east OF
Luneville and drove from there so
miles northeast to the point of in
yasion.
Karlsruhe Reported ShelIed.
The Siegfried Line was being
shelled at perhaps its weakest points.
The Germans said American artil-
lery was hammering Karlsruhe it.
self. American divisions charged to
within 20 miles of Wissembourg on
the border, a natural invasion gate
way into the Bavarian Palatinate
and key to the fiat German land be-
tween the Eifel range and the
Bienwald Forest. That French fort
ress town is is miles west of the
Rhine.
Advances ranged up to 7 miles.
More than dozen French towns fell
Gen. Herman Balck, commander
Of German Army Group G., rushed
reinforcements to his buffeted 1st
and 10Th Armies. He also tried to
relieve pressure by reinforcing the
600-square-mile pocket around Col
mar below Straspourg.
Patton Advance Continues.
His counterpart, 1t. Gen. Jacob
L. Devers, threatened development
Of the Palatinate and the Saarland
to the west from the rear. Gen.
Devers' IA or more American and
French divisions stood on or near
the Rhine for los miles from Switz-
erland to the border town of Lau-
terbourg, against which the Ameri-
cans were charging.
The Sd Army continued its inde-
cisive battering of the Siegfried
Notifications in the Saarland at
Saarlautern and Dillengen. This
force, on Gen. Devers' left. widened
its front inside Germany by cross
ing the border 6 miles east of Sar-
regumines.
Gen. Hodges 1st Army strength
ened its positions on the Roer River
before Duren by capturing Birgel,
less than miles to the southwest.
The 104th and 9Th Divisions cleared
all the west bank of the Roer from
Mariaweiler north of Shophoven,
deploying at places within 20a
miles of Cologne.
Siegfried Line Shelled.
The 7th Army, part of Gen Dev-
ers' 9Th Army group, was imme-
diately southwest of Lauterbourg
and presumably was closest to Karls-
ruhe on the Rhine just east of the
town
Karlsruhe, which has population
OF 600, is strongly fortified city
In the Siegfried Line, miles beyond
the Rhine. Mannheim (284 ,0OO is
a great chemical and munitions