Evening star., 1945-03-22
Western Front
Continued From First Page.)

days ago and actually decided
March 16 when Gen. Patton crashed
across the Moselle southwest of
CoblenZ, constituted one of the
worst German defeats in the west
With the victory complete save
for mopping up, attention focused
on the Ruhr and the German plain
to the north-ideal for tank ma
neuvers. Allied planes by the thou
sands were isolating the region for
the approaching push which Gen.
Eisenhower has advertised.
The American 1St Army tanning
out from its East Rhine salient be-
tween the narrow Sieg and WED
Rivers and poWering its growing
strength over several" bridges.
moved to within less than Is miles
of Gladbach and Mulheim, first i'm
portant cities of the Ruhr in the
line of advance. AT points, the 1st
Army was less than a dozen miles
from the packed industrial region.
Buisdorf Captured.
1t. Gen. Courtney H. Hodges
shock troops, reinforced with tanks.
captured Buisdorf, where the Ruthr
superhighWay crossed the Sieg
River. They pushed into Wester-
hausen and won IA miles of the wide
military highway. They stood on the
Sieg for 7 miles or more.
The remnants of nine German
divisions have been destroyed by the
Sd Army bteween Trier and Kaisers-
lautern in recent days. Associated
Press Correspondent Thoburn Want
reported from Gen Patton's head
quarters. The 1885 prisoners proc
essed yesterday brought the Sd
Army's total since February / to
96,775 and since activation August
l to 2606 About 1000 prisoners
remained to be counted by the Sd
Army: the 7th Army had 10000 or
SO awaiting processing.
A high-ranking German prisoner
said one German commanding gen.
eral had committed suicide in de-
spondency over the ignominious de-
struction of the Wehrmacht west of
the Rhine.
Neunkirchen was considerable
prize in the Patton advance. The
city OF 40,500 had extensive steel
and iron works and centered
many coal pits. Neustadt, also
captured, has population of 2O,62O
and paper, cloth and other factories.
Scores of other villages were added
to the 4,225 places the Sd Army has
captured this month in overrunning
5 ,230 square miles of Germany-ex-
elusive of the conquests of yesterday
and today.
Ludwigshafen Being Mopped Up.
The Oath Division of Mai. Gen.
Harry j. Mallory, Dundee, N. Y, was
cleaning up remnants at Ludwigs-
hafen. The twin cities of Mann
helm, across the Rhine, and Lud-
| lwigshafen comprise a great indus
trial center of 427,O0O. The l. G.
Farbenindustries' chemical plants
along the Rhine are the largest in
Germany.
| The Rhine bridge in this section
was destroyed by the Germans.
The Sd Army stood in strength
along the whole west bank of the
Rhine for 100 miles from Coblenz to
! Ludwigshafen.
In MainZ, fortified Hessian capital
Iof $4,000, the goth Division was
having harder time. Prodded by
SIS troops, the Germans still were
resisting, and the goth Infantry was
just inside the city outskirts, Core
spondent Want reported at 1898
am, battlefront time. Policemen
and firemen of Mainz were identified
among the German troops. Resist
ance apparently was due to fanat-
ical leadership, because elsewhere
along the Rhine the shattered Ger
mans have been showing little fight.
!. One column of the 10th Armored
f4Tiger) Division advanced 8 miles
to within 6 miles northwest of Lam
dau, Bavarian traffic center of
1850, located 18 miles southeast Of