The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-11-17
1,500,OOO Troops
 Said To Be In Drive
giving.
(Continued from Page 1.)

ing on the first 24 hours of the First Army push, said:
 "Everything is going fine. We couldn't wish for anything better.
 The Americans were catching only one-thir das much Shelling as just before the attack opened = graphic evidence of the efficacy o1 the bombing and artillery on slaught which preceded the jump off.
 Allied dive bombers still were smashing at the German positions ahead of the advancing Americans in the Aachen area as well as at Metz today, despite the dirty weather.
 In some sectors of the Aachen front extensive mine fields were slowing the American march, and in others Siegfried pillboxes re- mained to be reduced.
 Well behind the foremost spear head, bitter fighting was going on in the northern tip of Stolberg, seven miles east of Aachen. The Germans had clung to 8 toehold in the city ever since the Americans captured the southern two-thirds ot 1t six weeks ago. With the town now far behind the front advanced positions, a German fadeback seemed inevitable.
 One First Army group was push ing through the open countryside where the gently rolling hills of the Cologne Plain were dotetd with small towns and villages. Another was fightin gin dense woods and over broken country.
 Resistance Stiffened at some points as the Germans recovered from the initial impact of the Amer ican onslaught with the heaviest fighting in the Stolberg area.
 In the forested region southeast of Aachen the Tanks ran into strong entanglements of barbed wire but reported they were cutting their way through.
 PilIbOxeS
 Nine Siegfried pillboXes captured this morning were manned by only thre or four men each. The Ger mans moved up armor in one sec tor, and small scale but otter tank battles were reported.
 U. s. tanks reached the outskirts of one town yesterday less than an hour after the Shoveoff. Bitter, close-quarter fighting went on un- til nightfall. Infantry moved into the town this morning and cleaned up the clements left by the main force which pulled out under cover of darkness.
 Scanty reports from the Ninth Army front said that when the Ger mans mounted their first counter attack, Allied dive bomberS, mobile artillery and tank destroyers rushed into the fray and stopped the ad- vance before it got well under way.
 Simpsons forces also ran into thickly sown mines and booby traps as they pushed within three miles of the Roer river, the last large na- tural barrier before the Rhine.
 Headquarters reports of Simp- sons progress in the first "A hours indicated that the Ninth was well into the German defenSes that were softened by the heavy bombers and artillery yesterday.
 Towns Overrun
 The two American armies in the north-central sector of the 40O-mile offensive front already had overrun a dozen or more towns and hamletS as much as seven miles inside the Reich in advances of up to two miles in the first 12 hours of their attack.
 To the north, the British 2nd Army in southeast Holland hurled the Germans back across the MaaS river along a six-mile front, cap- turing Buggenum and Wessen on the west bank and pushing to within a mile of the east bank fort ress of Roermond.
 British vanguards were within three and a half miles of the Ger man border and long-tom artillery, along with medium guns, already were shelling enemy strongpoints inside the Reich. Rooftops of Ger man towns were clearly visible.
 South of the Cologne-Dusseldorf front, the American 3rd Army sent patrols into the southern outskirts of Metz, strongest German bastion in eastern France, but stiffening en- emy resistance indicated that the fortress would fall noly after days of bloody fighting.
 German prisoners reported that the garrison, fighting with the guns of the Gestapo and as elite guards at their backs, was throwing up Sandbags and barbed wire barricades a tStreet corners and between houses for last-ditch battle.
 Other Units
 The 10th regiment of the Ameri- can 5th division pushed ir strength to within mile south of Metz. while other units were within mile and a half of the city on the west and north.