The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-03-03
Continued from Page One,

miles, and tonight it was clea,
that the battle of the Rhine M
of the swiftest of Allied triumnhs
was near an end, a dispatch from
Field Marshal Montgomerv,s
headquarters said.
AS the flight became as chaotic
in some places as that in Norman.
dy last summer, Gen. Eisenhowe,
toured the front with Simpson to
see how well the Ninth had car.
ried out his orders to destroy every
German soldier west of the Rhine
The smoke of American shell.
bursts mingled with the smoke
from the factories of Dusseldorf
administrative center of the Ruhr
Basin with a population of 500, 900.
The suburb of Neuss, itself with
a normal population of 60, 900 held
out but a short time before the
charge of the 83rd Infantry Divi.
sion.
German guns, emp1aced on the
east bank Of the river, opened fire
as the Americans appeared, and
mobile American artillery return
ed the fire in a thunderour can.
nonading. The river is 1,180 feet
wide at this point and is so feet
deep.
Ten miles to the northwest, the
1O2nd Division in 10-mile advance
captured Krefeld. steel and rail
wav citv of 10000 population.
Between the two cities, the Sec
ond Armored Division also reach.
ed the Rhine last night almost 81
multaneously with the 83rd Divi-
sion and today captured Boesing-
hoven, three miles south of the
Germans main Rhine escape bridge
on the superhighway east OF Kre'
field.
To the west the 35th Infantry
and the Eighth Armored Divisions
sealed off an undetermined num-
Der of Germans left along the once
formidable Mas river line south
of Venlo, and, striking seven miles
northwest of that fallen citadel,
captured Straelen.
Farther south patrols entered
Roermond and found it deserted,
but between Venlo and Roermond
patrols crossing the Mas got a
sharp reaction, indicating possibly
sizeable forces had been trapped.
The greatest peril to the Germans
still west of the Rhine was rising
from the .Kerfeld push, for here
Simpsons tanks and infantry were
closing fast on the best roads OF
retreat to the Rhine.
In the broad sweep, which won
control of the Rhine plain all the
way from the Mas 80 miles east
ward to the Rhine, the Ninth Army
captured such small industrial cit
les as Duelken and Viersen, with a
combined population of about
10000.
In some of the cities Smoke still
rose from chimneys of factories
making materials for Hitler's arm
les as the Americans charged
through.
Sullen German civilians watched
from windows, but made no at
tempt to scorch the earth and snipe
as ordered by Hitler.
A Ninth Army staff officer de-
clared that the German defenses
for the most part had degenerated
into rout.
With this peril rising behind
them, elements Of 10 divisions op-
posing Gen. H. D. G. Crerar' S
Canadian First Army abruptly
broke off the battle and headed
for the Rhine.
Bitterly-contested Weeze fell to
British troops who then sped on two
and half miles south to within a
mile of Kevelaer, 10 miles from
the Americans at Straelen.
Canadians six miles to the east
swept forward five miles to within
mile and a half of the road juno
ton of Sonsbeck as the Germans
there likewise abruptly broke Oft
contact.
Other Canadian troops stormed
to within two miles of the Rhine
stronghold of Xanten, five miles
northwest of Sonsbeck, and were
mopping up the Hochwald, a fir
forest where the Germans had
stopped them cold for days with
dug-in tanks and machineguns.
1t. Gen. George S. Patton S
Third Army too a giant stride in
its own drive for the Rhine with
the capture of Trier, Germany S
oldest city with a normal popu-
lation of $4,000.
The Third Army was flashing
out all along its 50-mile front
gaining up to two miles, Selling
nine more towns and so many
prisoners that it was having diff
ficulty taking care of them.
The Tenth Armored and Gath
Infantry Divisions, which took
Trier, were grinding to bits a
pocket of Germans caught SOUTH
west of the old fortress. Among
the towns captured was Konz, one
of the fort towns guarding the
southern approaches to the city.
Prisoners told their captors that
the Trier airfield and some of the
streets of the city itself were
heavily mined.
Other elements of the Third
Army were moving up both north
and south of Trier, which is so
airline miles from Coblenz on
the Rhine.
A field dispatch said six large
fires blazed in Trier, but the
northern part Of the historic city