The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-02-09
Final Battle
For Germany
May Be Near
Montgomery Hurls MUIR
derous Barrage Before
Jumping Off

PARIS, Friday, Feb. g. R-
The Canadian First. Army, strik-
ing behind a thunderous 11-hour
barrage with flame-throwers and
tanks. launched a grand-scale Of
fensive yesterday morning .ap-
designed to turn the West
Walls north flank and break into
the Ruhr and Rhineland.
In the first hours the assault
along the long-dornant northern
end of the Western Front southeast
of Nijmegen, Holland, gained two
miles and Canadian and British
troops battled inside the West
Walls Notifications.
With two U. S. armies already
battering three breaches in h
West Wall on 70-mile front in
side Germany, and two others
poised to strike along the Roer be-
fore Germany, the final battle for
Germany may be at hand.
Sorely pressed at the approaches
to Berlin by the Russians on the
east, the German armies in the
west were desperately forced to
try to hold back a tide threaten
ing to spill out on to the Rhine
land plain and engulf their great
industrial cities.
A front dispatch said that Field
Marshal Montgomery sent his
British and Canadian divisions of
the Canadian First Army veter-
ans of Hollands battles Of rivers
and dikes-into action on a five
mile front southeast of Nijmegen.
Stunned by the furious cannon
aiding and battered by the bombs
of more than 1900 warplanes
lasting out a patch, the Germans
offered feeble resistance at first
and gains up to two miles were
recorded by the attackers at the
outset.
The exact location Of assault
was not announced, but the fact
that the British and Dominion
troops had fought into Germany's
Reich forests indicated that Mont
gomery was aiming at the tip Of
the West Wall, which terminates
at Kleve east of the forest.
The Rhine, which crosses into
Holland four miles north of Kleve,
winds southeastward past such
Ruhr and Rhine industrial cities
as Emmerich, Vessel. Dusseldorf
and Cologne, and a drive along it's
west bank would bypass powerful
enemy defenses along the Roer.
The U. S. First Army assault
more than IS miles to the south
east likewise was threatened to
detour around the Roer line
which has held up the Allies since
November-and break out into the
industrial heart of Germany.
Pilots patrolling roads and rail-
ways leading to the Nijmegen bat
lie zone said German troop move
nent toward the fighting line in
creased late in the day, indicating
he enemy was rushing to bolster
he critical sector.
The British and Canadian as
'ault APPARENTLY signalled the
start of powerful drive to the
Rhine and perhaps to the Ruhr
beyond. The Ruhr is the only ma
or industrial area left to the Ger
mans now that the Russians have
verrun Silesia.
The British and Canadian troops
Jumped off at 1920 am. yester-
lay after the German lines had
aiken an almost unprecedented
They fought into the outer de-
enses of the Siegfried Line at the
western edge of Germany's Reich
crest, capturing several hundred
prisoners in what was described
as good progress.
The offensive broke at an hour
yhen the Germans were filling the
ir with broadcasts of an impend-
ag big blow from the west.
1t was synchronized by heavy
lows from the U. S. First and
bird Armies, which were attack
ng along a 70-mile front to the
outh inside Germany n d had
three breaches in the
Vest Wall.
The Reichwald or Reich forest
Greens on the west the enemy
ortress OF Kleve, which is h e
lorthern terminal OF the West Wall
ust south of the Rhine.
A thunderous artillery barrage
asting II hours preceded and sup
ported the new assault and more
han 1900 Allied warplanes ripped
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