Evening star., 1945-04-03
MAP on Page A-5.)
Nv the Associated Press.

PARIS, April 3.-British and
Canadian troops today advanced
to within striking distance of
the Zuider Zee and North Sea
in a great effort to trap all Ger
mans in Holland, while Ameri-
cans fought within miles of
the Weser River and tightened
the Ruhr trap on 10000 doomed
NaZiS.
The hard-hitting American Sd
Army i'll Central Germany advanced
nearly 30 miles overnight to within
100 miles of a junction with the
Russians on the eastern front-a
move that would bisect the Reich.
The Germans said 1t Gen. George
S. Patton's Army was storming Suhl,
65 miles from CZechoslovakia, and
had surrounded Meiningen, 10 miles
to the southwest on the Werra River.
These positions would place the
Americans three-fourths Of the way
across the waist of Germany.
Seventh Army tanks were said by
the enemy to have cut the railroad
from invested Wuerzburg to Ans
bach, % miles southwest of Nuern-
berg (431,00O).
"We have not yet succeeded IN
building up a cohesive front"
Berlin military spokesman said.
Towns Not Identified.
A security blackout hid most Sd
Army movements. A dispatch from
Gen. omar N. Bradleys 18th Army
Group headquarters gave a figure
of so miles from Czechoslovakia and
said Gen. Patton still was 155 miles
from Berlin: Parts of his forces
presumably still were fighting inside
Kassel and Fulda, which were en-
tered yesterday.
"a German broadcast said
American forces had captured
KasSelD
The Canadians in the north
menaced Arnhem, bridged the
Lower Rhine twice and fought to-
ward the Zuider Zee. less than Is
miles away. When they reach the
great water mass, cities such as
Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The
Hague will be sealed off for liberia
ton.
(Allied troops have captured
Hengelo, 10 miles northeast OF
Arnhtm, the Free Netherlands
radio said. Hengelo is a Dutch
city of 10000 near the German
frontier west of captured Rheine)
The British fought to within 5
miles of Osnabrueck population,
$4,000, which was by-passed, and
within 60 miles of the North Sea,
and the cities of Bremen and Ham,
over.
"A London broadcast recorded
in New York by the Blue Network
said today that British patrols
are reported to have entered
Osnabrueck.')
The American 9Th Army moved
to within so miles of Hanover
(472.52O when its I'd Armored Hell
on Wheels Division reached the
We're River south of Herford at a
point miles from the Weser. The
Weser and the Elbe Rivers are the
only large streams ahead on the
high road to Berlin.
Bielefeld was outflanked, by-passed
and threatened frontally by the
Americans, who are 100 miles from
Berlin.
Nazi Attacks Smashed.
First Army tanks and infantry
shattered violent German attempts
to crash out of the Ruhr pocket
where Gen. Eisenhower said 81
divisions of the whole German
Army Group B and part of Group
H we're sealed for destruction and
ripe for annihilation."
The trap was frightened on the
north side by 9th Army divisions
which captured Recklinghausen
(poAllation $4,000 and cleared vir-
tually all the built-up Ruhr area
north of the Emcher Canal be-
tween Duisburg on the Rhine and
Dortmund.
The Germans attempted to burst
out of the Ruhr trap at Winterberg
and were beaten back. The town
was captured. Three miles south
west at Neu Astenberg, a strong
German counterattack drove the
Americans out for time. The 1st
Army men fought back into the
village and closed in on the north
setting up road blocks. All around
the Ruhr trap, the Americans
tightened their solid grip on the
pocket, Correspondent Don White
head reported.
The 9th Armored Division
smashed an enemy attack last night
after a day long fight around
Bonenberg near Winterberg, ano
the Doughboys moved west into the
Hardehausen Forest.
Closing in on the Ruhr from the
south, infantry crossed the Sieg
Nine additional men from the