The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-10-04
Yonks Enter Fort DFiont
Ccontlnusd from pase O

which It. Gen, George 6, PattonS men have yet engaged, A supreme headquarters Hpokoss man sAlds '~rhe fort is ours"
 Front dispatches, however, mAde evident that tho battle etlll was uIl- derway. ., 8, DouehboVs were msthodloally pumping blazing on Into fortress embrasures and case mentS, burning out the stlll rosise- ing NaElS,
 The successful assault upon Fort Drlant, flve miles southwest ot MetR was announced by supreme headquarters At noon e ., mO EWT), Front dispatches timed two hours earlier said shock troops of It, Gen, George 6. PAtton's Srd Army were storinlng the inner chambers of the citadel, Not since the Huns sacked MetA in 46l have any of the cltyS dc. lenses been taken by storm, Driant ls one of the most important cogs ln the enemy chain of forts on the west bank of tho Moselle. Tho suo- cessful assault was expected to speed capture of other MetS forts, opening the gates to the 9Aar,
 It, Gen. Courtney II. HodgOS American ist Army jumped off on third day of its offensive some 10 miles north of Aachen at dawn, fay. ored by cloudless skies that permit- ted hundreds of medium and dive bombers to pound the defonseS in close support of the advancing doughhoys,
 Completely through the concrete defenses Of the Slegfried line fol- lowing the capture of Ubaeh, the Americans lunged against harhed wire entanglements, trenches, hAsts ily-improvlsed forts and other strong points stretching S0.odd miles east to Cologne, capital ot oermany's industrial RhlnelAnd,
 German troops also were laying down Q murdeFvus crossilre with rifles and maehine-guns from fox. holes speaking open fields, but many came to grief Rt the point ot bayonets welded by doughboys who charged forward under close Atr anu hEblllery buppoEb
 Supreme headquarters reported in It's daily eemInuniQue that the Amer jeans were advancing slowly both in the UbNch area and to the south. west,
 The Germans counter attacked with flame throwers and multi-bar-' reled mortars during the night in the Ubaoh area and in the wooded area due east Of Aaehen In an ate tempt to wipe out the breaches in the Siegfried line, but everywhere were thrown back, The oounter-at. tack Rt Ubaeh was repulSed in one hour,
 The First Army captured 42e prl- soners yesterday, brtgning It's total since D-Day to i00,Bl4,
 Some N4 miles north of Aaehen, other First Army troops killed half the enemy force in repulsing . eounter.Attaek in the 0verloon area,
 The British Second Army broad. ened the northern tip of its salient In the Netherlands to l7 miles with tho capture of Wamel, on the south bank of tho Rhine iT miles west northwest of Nijmegen, and Dreu- mel, two and half miles southwest of Womel.
 Canadian forces At the base of the German sack looping southwest ward to the seheldt Estuary above Antwerp pushed eight miles north of Turnhout to capture Baarie Mas. sRu and prepared to cleR rthe Estu. aFy itself in the wake of the Royal Ar Forces .smRshing attack on the Dutch Island Of Waleheren
 Dlke Smashed
 Reconnaissance D h o tographera taken one hour after British Lan. casters smashed the great dike pro- tecting the island yesterday showed that Q gay of Rt lese i20 yards had been torn in the seawall flooding an area at least 1000 yards long and 700 yards wide that had been heavily defended by the Germans.
 Clearing of the Estuary will per. init the Allies to use the big port of Antwerp, already In Allied hands. The Germans apparently not only were reconciled to the loss of the schelde Estuary, however, but also have begun demolitions in the Dutch harbor of Rotterdam some 30 miles farther north.
 Canadian forces also were pre- pairing to storm Dunkerque, last French Channel port still in Ger. man hands, A front dispatch said Q 48-hour truce for the evacuation of clvilians-usual preliminary to Q grand assauit-had begun ct Dun. kerque at 6 Q. m. q Q. m. E.W.TO today,
 United Press War Correspondent Robert Richards with the American 3rd Army reported that doughboys were pouring hot oil into gun and ventilation apertures to reduce the inner defenses of Fort Driant.
 The oil burst Into flame as it flowed into the interior, soaring and choking the defenders. The Ameri- cans also dropped grenades and other explosives Into the gun sits.
 The attackers broke into the fort yesterday behind tanks which blast. cd Q path up to It's wall through massed of barbed wire entangle- ments 70 feet in depth. Hand to hand fighting ragged inside the Fortress Perimeter and all but the main fortress had been reduced by dawn today. That apparently fell during the morning.
 Farther south, other American forces forced ahead northeast Of Epinal and captured Deyeimont Lepanges, Reusel and Grandvillers, the latter ii miles from Epinal.