The Wilmington morning star., 1945-03-27
Seven Armies
Over Barrier,
Foe Staggers
British Second Rolls IS
Miles Beyond North
ern Rhine

PARIS, Tuesday, March 81
Two poWer-packed American ar.
mics were plunging deep into the
softening heart of Germany last
night as still another Allied army
the U. S. Seventh - vaulted the
Rhine. The U. S. First ripped IS
miles from the Remagen area and
the American Third was reported
to have gained 80 miles placing
spearheads possibly within 200
miles of Berlin.
1t. Gen. Alexander M. Patch sent
his Seventh Army over the Rhine
in crossing described as bold
and successful to give the Allies
seven armies on the east bank
and beyond. The crossing was
made without artillery or aerial
bombardment. The exact location
of the crossing was not announced.
All along the battlefront, the
great Allied armies were on the
advance. The Germans were fall
ing back everywhere.
Two Of 1t. Gen. George S. Pat
tons famous Third Army armored
task forces were believed running
wild 80 miles or more inside the
heart of Germany, far beyond
Frankfurt, but they were operating
under security blackout. .
1t. Gen. Courtney H. Hodges
American First Army ripped
through German lines east of the
Remagen area sending one ar
incurred column racing IS miles to
Heckholzhausen and another %
miles to Limburg, eight miles south
of Heckholzhausen.
The Third Army smashed into
Frankfurt from the south as the
First Army reached Limburg, 80
miles northwest of the great Col
ogne-Frankfurt superhighway. Both
spearheads have broken complete
ly out of the rugged Westerwald
forest and now are rolling through
the comparatively level Lain riv-
err valley.
1t. Gen. Sir Miles c. Dempsey's
British Second Army hit the Ger
mans another whitening blow in
the north by breaking through the
Nazis' defensive crust on the West
phalian plain in five-mile drive
that rolled IS miles beyond the
Rhine.
1t. Gen. William H. Simpsons
Ninth Army. smuggling deep into the
Ruhr, drove into Germany's indus
trial heart at better than half a
mile an hour and was reported
within three miles of Essen.
German reports broadcast by the
Frankfurt RADIO said one column
of the Third Army had reached
Hosenfeld in the area of Fulda,
less than 200 miles from Berlin.
Reliable military sources in Lon
don said the other column had
reached the Wuerzburg area, 80
miles beyond a captured bridge at
Aschaffenburg and within Sc miles
of the great Nazi shrine city OF
Nuremberg.
Allied pilots reported great ex-
odus of German troops and ma
terial out of central Germany into
the high Alpine ranges near the
Swiss border, where the Nazls
may make last stand IN prepar"
ed mountain redoubts.
Some Allied observers speculate
ed that Patton's plunge to Fulda
was racing for a junction with
Russian forces to seal off the Nazis
in the north from any escape to
the southern mountains.
Correspondents with Brig. Gen.
William A. Hoges whirlWind
Fourth Armored Division disclosed
that the crossing of the Main riv-
err was made at Aschaffenburg,
where a bridge was seized intact.
From Ascnaffenburg it is 38 miles
southeast to Wuerzburg.
A second armored column rolled
up to the Main river opposite Ha-
nau, Is miles north of Aschaffen-
burg, but it was not clear whether
the bridge there had been seized.
Tanks and infantry following up
the breakthrough smashed into
Frankfurt, which was reported al
most deserted by its pre-war pop
ulation of more than a half mill
lion.
The major portion OF the great
industrial city lies north Of the
Main river, and German prisoners
reported that all bridges across the
Main either had been destroyed or
were mined for destruction.
1t. Gen. Courtney H. Hodges
First Army Tanks, however, were
only 80 miles north of Frankfurt
after 22-mile breakthroush' that
carried into Limburg.
Continued on Page Two; Col. 81