Evening star., 1944-11-20
Western Front
Continued From First Page.)

east of Belfort and 10 miles from
the Alsatian city of Mulhouse.
Belfort was almost as badly
ringed as Metz.
Gen. de Tassigny's announcement
said enemy resistance was overcome
at Fort lie Sultert and at the viii
lage of Essert, miles west of Bel
fort. Fort du Mont Vaudois, 4
miles southwest, also has fallen.
Medium bombers went for tn,
Neuenberg bridge, 9 miles northeas
of Mulhouse on the line of enemy
flight.
35-Mile Drive in Week.
The French rush had carried al
least 35 miles in a week in The
swiftest drive since the st. Lt
breakthrough last July.
North of Belfort the Allies hae
taken Gerardmer, Raon-l'Etape
Badonviller and Blamont, leaving
only scorched st. Die and Fraiz,
blocking the way to six main passe!
through the Vosges. The German
said the Americans had fought ints
st. Die.
The American 7th Army had cap
tured at least 35 towns in the drw,
into these gaps.
American troops, capturing Rechi
court, Harbouey, Badonviller ant
eight other towns southeast O
Nancy, moved to within II miles O
Sarrebourg and into the upper Saa
Valley.
Among towns captured on tn,
Badonviller-R -Raon rEtape front wer,
Cogney, Repaix. Nonhigny, Paru
Montreux, Bremenil and Neufnai
son.
Yanks Enter Dieuze.
| The Sd Army, closing around Met
at Vallieres and Vaudrevilla, ais,
entered the northern outskirts O
Dieuze and reached Grostenquin, /.
miles farther north and 81 mile.
from Saarbrucken, chief industria
city of the Saar Winning, S mile.
east of Morhange, was taken in thi.
advance.
The Sd Army also was within q
miles of Saarbrucken on the north.
west, in the vicinity of Bouzonville
Across the German border north.
east of the Saar, 1t. Gen. George S
Patton's men reached Kesslinger
and point mile beyond Nennig
in drive up the east side of the
Moselle frontier of Luxembourg
which gave them a grip on 5.
mile square of Germany.
In the bloody battle area east and
northeast of Aachen American and
British troops were exerting terrific
pressure on constructed 15-mile
wide front.
Behind a torrent of bombs ane
shells, troops of the American 9th
and British I'd Armies pushed a mile
northeast and 2 miles north of faller
Geilenkirchen. These troops were
meeting stiffening German opposi.
ton
Towns Captured.
just to the south the United
States 1st Army had sent patrols
into the southern outskirts of Esch.
weller, 7 miles northeast of Aachen
and captured the Germans towns oi
Hamich and Hastenrath. They alse
advanced beyond Hamich, 26 mile.
from the ruins of Cologne, and tool
ridge which the Germans hac
used to observe American move
mentS.
The Scandinavian Telegraph Bu-
reau, Nazi-controlled agency, said
that 100000 American soldiers sup
ported by 1000 tanks have beaten
hallway through the Siegfried Line
east of Aachen.
With the capture of Geilenkir-
chen, the British-American forces
pierced the first formidable de-
fenses of the Siegfried Line in that
northern sector, then seized Tips
rath to the north.
Immediately below this sector
units of the American 9Th Army
plowed farther into Germany, send
ing armored formations as far for
ward as the villages of Durboslar
iSchleiden, Kinzweiler, ST.. Joris and
Freialdenhoven. Yesterday they
lcaptured Setterich and entered
Weiden, and fought their way into
the outskirts of Apweiler and
Warden.
Yanks Near Julich.
These gains placed the Americans
only Az miles from Julich, key
communications center % miles west
of Cologne and within 3Ha miles of
the Roer River.
The American 1st Army, third
partner in the massive drive to blast
open the Aachen corridor to Cologne
and the Ruhr. threw itself against
the strongly held town of Esche-
weller after slipping forward through
the darkness and seizing dominat-
ing ridge at its outskirts early yes
terday.
A Berlin report via Stockholm
said Eschweiler was the target oi
the main attack in the Aachen Sec
tor, and that a savage battle was
raging around the towns fortified