Evening star., 1945-02-22
Putch's Forces
Also Move Into
Suur District
MAP on Page A-1
By the Associated Press.

A. As ~, GU HG.-AO. NCll.
George s. Patton's American Sd
Army. running high. wide and
handsome again, stormed within
5 miles Of Trier today. crossed
the Saar River against disinte-
grated German resistance and
swept up 80 more Nazi towns in
the Moselle Valley.
Already tanks and infantry were
within sight of the main defense
works covering Trier, city of SO, 900
and keystone of the whole German
defense system before the Middle
Rhine. They were a mile and a
quarter from Konz. site of a large
fort at the confluence of the Saar
and Moselle Rivers.
While Gen. Patton's columns ad-
vanced miles or more immedi-
ately north of the industrial Saar
district, 1t. Gen. Alexander M.
Patch's 7th Army smashed into the
district from the south, advancing
to within 2 miles of ruined Saar-
1A oSNhCA VIC "a PiOol.
Half Of Forbach Taken.
His Americans captured half of
Forbach, French gateway to Saar-
bruecken, from raw conscripts of
the Volkssturm who were bolstered
by heavy German weapons. Spich-
eren fell; the Siegfried Line was
within view.
The Canadian 1st Army in the
north pounded to within 1000 yards
of bitterly contested Calcar in its
drive toward the Ruhr Valley.
A report from It. Gen. Omar N.
Bradley's 18th Army Group head
quarters said German resistance in
the Saar-Moselle triangle, now
virtually cleared, had completely
disintegrated." The Saar crossing
south of Saarburg was unopposed.
Saarburg itself was almost cleared.
There were indications of a general
German withdrawal into the rugged
Hochwald.
Despite the spectacular gains of
the Sd Army and the slow chipping
progress of the British and Canadian
troops in the north, 1t was evident
that Gen. Eisenhower had not yet
loosed his full-scale offensive.
Await Zero Hour.
Between these forces was the
greatest potential weight on the
whole western front-the British ID
and the American 1st and 9th
Armies-still waiting for their hour
as the flooded Roer River slowly
receded before them.
Reports reaching Gen. Bradley's
headquarters told of a tremendous
explosion just before midnight near
the Urfttalsperre Dam on the Roer
headwaters. Its reservoir empties
into the larger Schwammenauel
Lake, now 80 per cent empty. It
was not Immediately apparent
whether the dam had been preached,
loosing new floods on the Roer. The
river up to midnight was sufficiently
low and slow to allow bridging on
the 1st Army front near the dams,
southwest of Cologne.
Bright sun bathed the western
front again today, and planes took
off early. In $500 sorties yesterday,
bombers smashed such centers as
Duisburg, Nuremberg, Berlin, Wurms
and Calcar-the latter II times.
One of the towns captured in the
Patton advance was Tawert, 61a
miles southwest of Trier, city OF
5000. Others taken in the Moselle-
Saar triangle were Sudlingen, Nam
nebach, Nittel, Kahren and Krut-
weller.
Opposition Is Slight.
Added to the 40 captured yester-
day, Gen. Patton's men have seized
73 German villages in two-day ad-
vances of more than IL miles. Op-
position was generally slight.
The Saar was crossed in assault
boats by the oath Infantry, which
forged the breakthrough into which
Gen. Patton hurled an armored divi-
sion.
The Germans speculated that Gen
Patton's Sd Army drive was con-
nected with "the imminent Aachen
offensive" on the Roer
Increased pressure on German
f1anks west of Pruem, both from the
north and south, aims at forcing
the Germans to withdraw troops
from the hitherto quiet Aachen sec
tor to the Our River" the enemy
said.
1.-THE time is short for the Allies
and as Patton's originally more am