The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-09-14
Americans Drive Upon
German City OF Aachen
Continued from Page One)

:, n heights QOIIlHidCliiS edC oil oIC
81 town of Thionville and cleared
&c Germans out of that part O.
ule lawn on the west bank of the
Iver In addition new crossing
I i of Metz was announced.
~ Gen. Hodges forces after taking
,4oen six miles east of the cap
800 Belgian border town of Eu-
n .uL " we're just 40 miles west of the
pe+ German Rhineland city
~ ~ Cologne, which is deep in the
81 dpfenses of the Siegfried sys'
"l The German radio, in its first
acknowledgement that American
. ..n had invaded Nazi soil, re.
uU5e that an outpost" of the
s;aofried line had been captured
.nnarently in reference to Roetgen.
" VISITING from Roetgen, William
.n,ith White of the Associat-
- press said American troops
"are now assaulting the hulking
.a+i.+ank obstacles and pillboxes
;rst beyond this town" He said big
nnorican self propelled guns were
Crawling amid the debris that sur
.m,nds them on German soil in
support of this attack
CAPTURE of Roetgen, an historic
milestone of this war, occurred at
l'NO nm. Tuesday, The official AL
red blackout of spontaneous news
~ the fighting apparently delayed
announcement Of the city's fall.
1T is too early to draw general
conclusions, White said, but GER
tanlv resistance thus far has been
nected, and there are many indi-
cations that the headlong German
retreat begun in Belgium is now
continuing back toward the
Rhine"
At Roetgen the American spear
head was approximately IS miles
from the Rhine at point near
Koblenz.
Writing from the town forest of
Aachen. another Associated Press
observer. Don Whitehead, reported
that now our troops sit on heights
looking down on the city of Aachen
and the forest with its deep mating
Of pine needles echoes with the
battle of machineguhs, the thump
nj mortars and the crash of shells.
Our troops are within the out
posts of the famed (Siegfried) de-
lenses. but we cannot say the line
is broken. However, there are
strong indications that the Nazis
will not make their big stand on
this line but will try to hold the
Rhine.
Whitehead said long American
columns crossed steadily into Ger
many during the day, choking all
roads and even cutting across
country at times.
The vehicles, guns and jeeps
just kept rolling, and the boys
stared curiously at small stone
marker in the forest indicating the
boundary between Belgium and old
Germany" Whitehead said. He
quoted an American officer as ex-
claiming:
y can't figure it out. We expect
ed a heavy battle and were ready
for it. Now look what happens.
For the first time in almost two
weeks 1t. Gen. George S. Patton's
powerful third army in northern
France was rolling in high gear
as it poured through the country
side east of its Moselle River
bridgeheads and outflanked Pont-
A-Mousson, midway between Nam
cy and Metz.
One column raced eight miles in
two hours, flushing Germans from
the woods into a rain of bombs
from American battle planes. More
than 200 Nazi vehicles were flush
ed near Clemery, eight miles from
the River, reported Yves Gallagher,
Associated Press Fiel d Cores
pondent.
The planes stopped circling and
lined up waiting their turn to dive
bomb and strafe," said Gallagher.
"one tt er another they came
down and the thunder of bombs
and the chatter of machineguns
a-lfted over the valley. The slaugh-
Ter OF the column went on until
II looked like the whole wod was
On fire.
As the Nazis finally broke before
Pattons grinding attack and began
streaming back toward the Sieg-
,fled line they were forced to travel
9y daylight, making them a set-up
ioI American planes and artillery.
sounding a steadily rising note
ol alarm the Berlin radio admitted
ratton's forces had burst across
Inc Moselle Barrier and said they
were pounding toward Luneville in
great offensive 'faimed at fore
ing the entire Moselle line on a
broad 'front.'
Patton's troops captured Neur-
..hateau, IS miles southwest of
Nancy on the west side of the Mo-
s seize and were fighting inside
Inarfes, on the east side of the
s'ream % miles south of Nancy.
new crossing was officially re-
ported north of Metz, and the Ma
us We1t cleared from all of Thion-
Vile on the west side of the Mo-
selle.
Allied Headquarters offered no
HEALTH 1lIIE7