The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-02-28
Ruhr Valley
Menaced By
|Yank Drive
Prisoners And Towns
Scooped Up By Racing
Doughboys

PARIS, Feb. 27.-(R)-American
and armor smashed across
the flatlands of western Germany
today in advances of ten miles or
more, plungjng all the way to the
Erft river and within IL miles
of Cologne in great drive that
the whole industrial
Ruhr.
German prisoners were SCOOP
ed up by the hundreds and town
after town fell to the waves of
troops racing forward by truck and
afoot.
German S S t n &c was SO
feeble and apparently demoralized
that a complete news blackout
tonight was clamped on all opera
tons of Ninth Army divisions
which have broken through in this
area. 1t was thought the Germans
themselves might not know the full
extent Of the American break
through.
With the Ninth Army already at
the Erft, last natural barrier be-
fore the Rhine river, Is miles
away, the U. S. First Army surged
toward Cologne, capturing the
crossroads village of Sinzdorf, s
IL miles southwest.
At the same time the Canadian
First Army lashed out in an in
tensified attack against the Ger
mans northern flank, rolling back
the weakened Nazi defenses two
to four miles between the Mas
and the Rhine, and driving with
in 80 miles Of wing of the Ninth
Army probing northWard beyond
Observation-Disclosures.
U. S. Third Army troops to the
south fought into the important
road hub of Bitburg and streamed
across the Bitburg-Trier highway
in several places in a general two
mile advance all along their Sec
tor of the spraWling battle front.
Gen. Eisenhower whole mighty
offensive swept irresistibly toward
the Rhine through German forces
officially described as being in Eek
IRENE confusion" Several German
divisions were counted as COM
pletely destroyed since the First
and Ninth U. S. Armies slammed
across the Roer river last Friday.
At the center of the assault, the
Both Division powered up to the
Erft river m i d way between
Dusseldorf and Cologne, captur-
ing the river village of Morken on
that last natural barrier before the
Rhine. East Of Dueren armored
spearheads of the First Army
blasted to within nine miles OF
blackened Cologne and almost to
the banks of the Erft, beating down
desperate Nazi counterattacks ON
the day.
The Germans brought tanks
across the Erft and met the on
rushing American Shermans in
tank-in-tank slugging matches, but
failed to check 1t. Gen. Courtney
H. Hodges powerful drive across
the Cologne plain.
Today's thanking drive past
Observation-Disclosures revealed what
previously had been a military
secret, AP Correspondent Yves Gal
lapher asserted-"that Gen. Eisen-
hoWer's winter drive is aimed at
bigger stakes than just reaching
the Rhine. 1t is part OF the blow
at the heart of the Nazis-the
Ruhr.''
To the south, It. Gen. George s.
Patton's American Third Army
troops stormed into Bitburg, the
German "Bastogne'', after throw
ing armored claws about the town.
The town was lightly held, but its
Nazi garrison put up determined
resistance as Patton's foot soldiers
and tanks moved in for the final
assault.
The d d n n of Patton's
oreakthrough in this area yester-
lay forced the Germans to with.
draw most of their forces from
8itburg, despite its great strategic
as main highway
center between the Third Army and
he Rhine at Coblenz.
With three great American arm
es ripping through the vitals OF
he enemy's Rhineland defenses,
field Marshal Montgomery's Brit
sh and Canadian forces on the
forth pierced the Nazis' last de-
enses in the Hochwald Forest and
smashed on through crumbling en-
,my resistance.
Field dispatches said hundreds
II tanks had broken the backbone
II the Germans in that sector and
hat the Allied advance was assum-
ng the proportions of a break
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