The Wilmington morning star., 1945-03-03
German Army
Routed; Rhur
Cities Taken
Mauled Enemy In Frantic
Retreat; Dusseldorf
Under Fire

PARIS, March 2-R-The u. S.
Ninth Army smashed to the Rhine
at two points today, engulfed all
the arsenal cities in the Ruhr Ba-
sin west of that formidable river,
routed the German 18th Army, and
began Smelling Dusseldorf in the
greatest offensive in American his.
tory.
1t slit the German defenses and
sent the mauled enemy in frantic
retreat across the Rhine as the
U. S. First Army fought to within
four and a half miles of Cologne
and the U. S. Third Army captur-
ed the ancient fortress Of Trier.
guarding the Moselle river route
to Coblenz.
The Canadian First Army on the
north knocked out two other strong
points in a five-mile surge through
the buckling lines, and was 10
miles from junction with the
Ninth Army, threatening entrap-
ment of thousands Of Germans.
German broadcasts said that be-
tween the closing jaws of this nut
cracker the British Second Army
went over on the offensive, and
broke across the Mas river in a
drive designed to pin down and
destroy the German army west OF
the Rhine.
Dusseldorf cross-Rhine suburb
of Neuss and the steel city OF Kre-
field near the Rhine, 10 miles to the
northwest, fell with astonighing
speed as the Ninth Army roared
Is miles through broken lines.
German rearguards fought
freely between the Neuss and the
Rhine to keep the Americans from
breaking across the river into
Dusseldorf on two bridges still
intact.
In the northern outskirts Of Kre-
field, city of 17O.6OO, enemy tanks
battled to hold open the main
Rhine bridge on the superhighway
at nearby Uerdingen.
This was the principal way out
of the closing trap for. parts OF 10
crack divisions, which abruptly
broke off the battle with the Cana
dian First Army and fled. The Ca.
nadians then occupied the strong
points of Weeze and Kervenheim
and neared the anchor city of Kan.
ten on the Rhine.
Already large numbers of Ger
mans had been sealed off along the
Mas by lightning Ninth Army
blow that overran the strongholds
of Venlo and Roermond, at whose
muddy approaches many a British
Second Army soldier died last fall
and winter.
The Germans were left with
nothing west of the Rhine capable
of hating Gen. Eisenhower's ave
alanche and 5000 war planes pound.
ed on the bleeding Wehrmacht.
hammering it from dawn to dusk
in a gigantic display of combined
land and air power.
Front dispatches were filled with
reports on the complete rout OF
the Germans before the Ninth Ar
my onslaught.
One reports said the Germans
frequently stopped fighting in the
midst of battle and broke into
headlong retreat, and another sald
the Americans ran wild through
city after city.
One way out was Cologne itself.
and 900 Raj heavy bombers in
two raids plastered it with high ex-
plosives aimed at German troop
concentrations reported there.
They also sought to block the main
streets with craters and debris.
The U. S. First Army once more
was lashing out from its Erft river
bridgehead-now II miles wide
toward Cologne, which was under
heavy bomber attack with four Of
its five bridges destroyed.
Another column of the First Are
nv speared southea stward to with.
in IS miles of the Rhine's transit
center of Bonn, II miles southeast
of Cologne
1t. Gen. William H. Simpson was
disclosed to have hurled seven in-
fantry and three armored divisions
10000 men, into the offensive
which in a week has destroyed
five German infantry divisions Of
the 18th Army and heavily mauled
three Panzer divisions.
The battered remnants were flee.
ing across the Rhine, some under
American artillery fire and under
an aerial scourging. Elements Of
10 divisions facing the Canadians
likewise were. in flight.
Since striking out a week ago,
the Ninth Army had reeled off 81
Continued On Pare Three: Col. a