Evening star., 1944-12-14
14-Mile Stretch on Roer River
Won by U.S.. 1st and 9Th Armies;
Simpsons FORCES Resume Drive
Yunks Drive Into
! Duren Suburb;
Sd Army Gains
MAP on Page ABB

PARIS, Dec. 14.-The Ameri
can 1st Army of 1t. Gen. Court
ney H. Hodges and the 9Th Arm
of 1t. Gen. William H. Simpson
have won a 14-mile stretch alon
the Roer River from Linnich t.
a point $500 yards northwest o
Duren, it was announced toda,
at supreme Allied headquarters
This placed the Americans within
2012 miles of Cologne, their neares
approach, at a point downstream
from Duren, through which tn,
river flows north toward the sea.
Twenty miles farther south, othel
units of the 1st Army moving along
both sides of the river near it
source overran fourth hamlet
Kesternich, in an advance of mile
or more.
The 1st and 9th Armies between
them were swiftly wiping out the
last stubborn German remnants
west of the Roer in a campaign
seeking to envelop the Cologne
plain with its 81 muddy miles to the
Rhine.
9th Army Resumes Offensive.
Kesternich lies east of previously
taken Rollesbroich, Bickerath and
Simmerath and about 5000 yards
from the Roer.
Ninth Army troops 20 miles to
the north sprang into action and
seized the Inde River town of Vich-
hofen, miles south of Julich.
For once, the lst Army had
bright, sunny weather which prom
ised help from the air in budging
the stubborn Germans from their
trenches and bunkers. The 1st
Army was on the enemy's side of
the Roer headwaters in the area
4 miles southeast of Monshau, and
moving between the Hurtgen and
Monschau Forests.
Before Duen, Maj. Gen. Robert
c. Macon's 83d Division advanced
to the western outskirts of Cur
Szenich, a suburb of Duren and only
a few hundred yards from the Roer
0u ARMY AufduCcS.
On the central sector of the west
ern front 1t. Gen. George S. Patton's
Sd Army, fighting bitter resistance,
drove 500 yards ahead at Saarlau-
tern, widening its wedge in the
Siegfried Line, and measured ad-
vances in yards in other areas of
the German Saar Basin. Nine
miles southeast of Saarbrucken, the
shell-torn Saar capital, 35th Divi-
sion troops chung to their foothold
inside the Reich at Habkirchen.
In the south the 7th Army of 1t.
Gen. Alexander M. Patch plunged
through another section of the
Maginot Line northwest of Bitche
and 312 miles from the Saarland's
southeast corner These troops were
u miles below zweibrucken, Palati-
nate city which has been raked by
7th Army shells.
Gen. Hodges troops southeast of
Monschau, springboard of the new
attack, were wheeling into position
for sweep behind enemy Roer
River defenses. The northern wing
of this assault plunged toward the
rivers west bank. Light, medium
and fighter bombers lashed fortified
positions ahead of the ground
troops.
Front Extended to 25 Miles.
AS these operations extended the
active 1st Army front to 25 miles,
Schophoven on the west bank of the
Roer, midway between besieged
Julich and Duren, was cleared over
heavy resistance. Other troops were
almost to the river at Duren, as field
dispatches reported German de-
fenses caving in on smile stretch
along the stream south of the city.
In the south the French 1st Army
made slow progress north of Colmar
in the Vosges Mountain foothills.
Concerning the fighting on the
1st Army front, supreme headquar-
ters said the fortified towns of
Schophoven. Mariaweiler, Derichs-
weller and Gey had been cleared
again of the Germans. They formed
stout defense arc for Duren on
the Roer. All changed hands sew
eral times.
First Army operations beyond
Monschau posed a potential fanking
thrust to new German positions east
OF the Roer, where three new de-
tense lines have been observed be-
tween that river and the Erft, flow
ing miles from Cologne and the
Rhine.
Difficult Terrain.
This headwaters section was the
only place where the Americans
were across the Roer. The fighting
was in the northern spurs of the
Eifel range, in such difficult terrain
that a swing north behind the main
Roer River line would be a hercu-
lean achievement. Forests abound.
Just ahead were three large dams
across the Roer, the longest 900 feet
at its base.
Two new divisions were in action
on the Upper Roer, but they were
not identified.
The suspicion increased that the
Germans were artificially flooding
the Roer through the dam sluices,