The Wilmington morning star., 1945-04-18

NEW 1Onh, ApTll l1.-
The BIC said tonight that '"1he
U S. Third Army reached the
Czechoslovak frontier after a
IL IL mile advance from Pau
len," the National BroadcAstinH
Company reported tonight.
PARIS, Wednesday, April fS.-
P)-American armies. which al.
ready have virtually bisected Ger
many, broke into the prize cities
of Leipzig and Magdeburg yester-
day as British tanks tore loose on
a 22-mile sweep that carried with
in Is miles of the great port Of
Hamburg.
Dusseldorf, last major city in
the Ruhr still held by the Ger
mans, also was entered by Dough-
boys who now have whitfield down
the Ruhr pocket to 125 square
miles from its original 5000
squar miles.
The U. S. Third Army stabbed
to a point four miles from the
Czechoslovak border, with one or
more of its armored columns OPP
Grating under a news blackout and
was thought to be about IS miles
from Russian positions on the
Eastern Front.
A Berlin military commentator
asserted that Germany had been
cut in half and now was forcN to
fight on two separate battlefields.
He did not say whether this meant
that American and Russian forces
had linked up or merely that the
Reich had been cut in two geo.
graphically by American units
reaching Czechoslovakia.
For the most part the American
armies concentrated their might
on clearing out fierce pockets on
Nazi resistance which have devel-
oped in the big cities and there
was no indication that the final
drive on Berlin had begm-al-
though the U. S. Ninth Army en-
larged its bridgehead across the
Elbe river south of Magdeburg to
depth of five miles.
Supreme Headquarters disclosed
early today that these bridgehead
forces of 1t. Gen. William H. Simp-
son had beat off the heaviest coun-
terattack thrown against the AL
lies since their crossing to the
east bank OF the Rhine weeks ago.
SHAEF said the Germans
launched their counterattack some
time Monday and the battle ragged
into the night, but by Tuesday
morning it had been thoroughly re-
pulsed.
The biggest advances in ~ hours
weer rolled up by British armor
striking northward toward the
|Nazis' important North Sea ports.
Resistance suddenly slackened on
LIT. Gen. Sir Miles c. Dempseys
front and a breakthrough to the
Elbo river on a broad front was
expected soon.
The British Seventh Armored Di-
vision slashed across the Berlin
Brennan railroad in its 22-mlle
northward thrust and the 18th Ar
mored Division drove eight miles
north of Uelzen, although there
still was heavy fighting IN that
city and in the outskirts OF Ver-
den. 20 miles southeast OF Bre-
men.
In northern Holland, Canadian
troops liberated Harlingen and
closed up to the eastern end OF
the Zuider Zee causeway and clear
ed a 2O-mile stretch of the North
sea coast. In western Holland they
cleared the communications cen.
ter of Apeldoorn as Germans OPEN
ed the sluice gates of the Zuider
Zee to flood between Utrecht and
Amsterdam.
In the American mop-up Of Nazi
cities, Leipzig, Germany's fifth
largest, was almost encircled. The
seth Division burst into its east
ern outskirts against resistance
that was lighter than expected, and
last night was within 2 IL miles
of its bomb shattered center.
Magdeburg, 80 miles southwest
of Berlin, was being assaulted by
infantryment Of the 30th Division
and tanks Of the Second Armored
Division and for four hours dur.
ing the day was attacked from
the air by fleets Of fighterbornb-
ers striking at 20-minute intervals.
The Nazi party convention city
of Nuremberg, broken into Monday
by the Seventh Arry's 45th In.
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