The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-12-15

uku CUlu1luS SpCdLnA uP bAAc Rhine Valley North of Seltz reached Scheibenhard during the night and were ttacking near Aluterbourg a: daybreak.
 Strung out to the west were vari- ouS Seventh Army Spearheads ol budges comprising a virtually So1C front near the border, their for ward clements ready to dash nortt and exploit any weakness in the Siegfried defenses which the ex' ploratory move-up might reveal.
 Patch's left flank was active neal Bitche, transport and defense huk IS miles east of Sarraguemines. IT that area the Germans were fight ing from a ring of Maginot forts lige those girdling Metz. At last report the American vanguard wa less than five miles below the bor' der in that area.
 To Patch's left on It. Gen. George s. Patton's Third Army front doughboys battled street by stree through Fraulautern, the easterl suburb of Saarlautern.
 The 379th regiment of the 95tf Division now held one-fourth O -Roden, northern suburt of Saarlaulern, where the Tn1re Army won its first bridgenead acrosst he Saar river.
 Heavy Bombardment
 German artillery in the Siegfriee Qualifications Sast of Saarlauterr was laying down heavy lombard ment on the American positions.
 The 35th Division was mopplnG up in Habkirchen, three mile! northeast of Sarreguemines acros! the Blies river in Germany.
 Farther north, It. Gen. Courtney H. Rogers First Army reduced tht last German strong poitn west o! the Roer and north of Duren. The 1O4th Divisions infantry stormee and seized Mullenack Castle, just north of Pier, in a night assault.
 The 83th Division outside tht gates of Duren beat off two German tank attacks aimed att he villages of Birgel and Gurzenich, two mile! southwest of Duren.
 Armor of the Fifth Division cap tured the hamlet of Borm below Duren and drove forward to occupy high ground near Kufferath, foul miles southo f the Roer river strong hold and a mile from the river.
 The First Army fought on the western and northwestern rim o1 the Roar river fortress of Duren joined Withc he Ninth Army ill mass ing strength along 15-mile stretch of the west bank of the RoeI north of Duren, and rolled to temporary halt a half mile short of Wahlerscheid, 9 miles south west of Duren.
 Lieutenant General George s. Patton's Third Army still was lock ed in see-saw battles across the Saar river on the northern out skirts of Saarlautern and inside Dillingen, two miles to the north west
 Other Third Army units cleared -Rimling in France and advanced a half mile beyond to Guiderkirch, eight and a half miles east of Sar- reguemines, Erching, also eight and half miles east of Sarreguemines and only mile south of the Ger man border, was penetrated.
 Patch's Seventh Army forces chalked up their biggest gain - six miles = in push from Seltz on the west bank of the Rhine to 8 point just west of Lauterbourg and within a half mile of Germany's palatinale border.
 12 Villages Fall
 Another Seventh Army column II miles west of Lauterbourg punched ahead to within a mile of the from tier stronghold of Wissembourg, hampered only by snipers and blown bridges. More than 12 villages were taken against only scattered resist ance, among them presumably Reid seltz, two miles south of Wlssem- bourg.
 Medium bombers blasted German defenses in the Siegfried line north of Wissembourg in support of the advancing doughboys.
 A third Seventh Army column nearing Palatinate was only one strong road block and 1900 yards of woodland road from the border in the mountains northeast of Nied- erbronn. Giant German 280-milli- meter railway guns many miles be- hind the border joined the bom- bardment of American positions for the first time in that sector.
 Clinton B. Congr, United Press War Correspondent with the Third Army northeast of Niederbronn, said the big railway guns hurled shells into one trail yesterday at the rate of 10 per minute.
 2-Mile Push
 Farther south, other Seventh Army forces pushed two miles far ther down the west bank of the Rhine below Strasbourg to WittiS- helm, eight miles northeast of Sele- stat, after absorbing series of Ger man counter attacks.
 Supreme headquarters reported thrt the American First Army now holds the west bank of the Roer river from its junction with the 1nde to a point just northwest of Duren with the xception of two small pockets of resistance in castle near Schophoven and a factory southeast More Raids