Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-11-16
YANKS OPEN GREAT RHINELAND OFFENSIVE
LIST and 9Th Armies Start Drive
After Assault by 100 Planes
Attack May Be
Eisenhower's
Big Winter Push
By the Associated Press.

Big winter Push
BY the Associated Press.
LONDON. Nov. l6.-The Amer.
lean LIST and 9th Armies, pacet
by a 1,700-plane bombardment o.
German defenSes northeast o.
Aachen, launched a massive of.
fenSive into the Rhineland to.
day.
1t. Gen. Courtney H. Hodges LIST
Army veterans sprang forward at II
o'clock as 1000 heavy bombers
crashed their bombs on the Du-
reneschweiler arc from 4 to 6 miles
ahead of the doughboy lines east
and southeast of Aachen.
An hour and IS minutes later the
9th Army, whose whereabouts had
been a secret two months, plunged
into a new assault on the German
homeland defenses near the Dutch
frontier, and the entire 40O-mile AL
lied front from the marshy low
lands of Holland to the Alps of
Switzerland was in motion
This may be Gen. Eisenhower s
About winter offensive.
Six Armies on March.
At least six great Allied armies
were on the march.
1t. Gen. William (Texas Bib
Simpsons 9th Army popped up at
the German front door after being
transferred 300 miles across France,
Belgium and Holland and moved
across the lines of communication
Of several other armies.$
Apparently it was attacking north
of the LIST Army's Aachen sector,
where it would be in position to i'm
plement the long standing threat
to sweep away the German north
flank. -t.
After a week of waiting for clear
weather, the Flying Fortresses and
Liberators, with nearly 500 fighters,
pounded the Germans with 1890
tons Of bombs ahead of the list Army
in . tactical assault similar to, that
which preceded the st. Lo break
through in Normandy last July IS
and the offensive by 1t. Gen. George
s. Patton's Sd Army in the Metz
sector eight days ago. W
Bombs Rain on Highway.
augmentation bombs fell on
l5-mile stretch of the Cologne high
way between Eschweiler and Duren
ahead of the LIST Army veterans of
the st. 10 breakthroush. Antiair-
craft positions, gun batteries and
other German defenses were show
cred.
The Americans have been holding
positions in Stolberg about miles
southwest of Eschweiler, and in
Hurtgen Forest about 6 miles south
west of Duren.
Front line dispatches said Gen.
Hodges had been withholding his
attack for week in order to have
good bombing weather to accom-
pany his artillery barrage and in
fantry assault. Rain, sleet and snow
made the ground mushy.
Gen. Eisenhower's other armies
which had joined the assault one
by one, forced ahead on the flaming
front.
Within Mile of Mas.
The British I'd Army plunged to
within q mile of the Mas in Hol-
land and captured Horn, only 2
miles from the German bastion of
Roermond, "a miles west of Dus-
seldorf on the Rhine.
The French Army, which Joined
the array of offensives only yes
terday, pushed forward on a 25-mile
front on both sides of the Doubs
River to point IL miles southwest
OF Belfort in the gap just north
of Switzerland.
Gen. Patton's Sd Army frightened
its grip on Metz from the north and
also captured Morhange.
A sudden break north of Metz,
old Roman fortress which never
has been taken by storm in modern
times. brought Gen. Patton's troops
to within mile and half of the
northern outskirts of the city, al
though the Yanks to the south and
west gave ground slightly, losing
one fort and a village.
Drive Near Ewend0rf.
North of Metz near the Luxem-
bourg border the Americans astride
the Maginot Line pushed forward
another mile near Ewendorf, only
four miles from the German
frontier.
Below Metz the 7th Army took
Ste. Pole, a miles from Strasborrg,
the closest the Allies have yet come
to that key crossing of the Rhine.
Southeast of Metz, the Sd Army
captured Racrange, d mile beyond
Morhange where doughboys were
last reported in possession of two
thirds Of the town, and chung to
high ground in the Forest Of Bride
and Rocking overlooking Dietize
and practically denying that road
center to the Germans.
Gen. Patton's men were fighting
OF series Of small counterattacks,
One such counterattack was Just
outside Bourgaltron, at the tip OF
the wedge between Morhange and
Dieuze. Here the 4th Armored Di-
s(Scc WESTERN 'FRONT.', Page A-2)
Nozi Crimes in Lotviu
Listed on Moscow Rudio