Evening star., 1945-03-06
Western Front
Continued From First Page.)

which seized Orsoy. just south OF
Rheinberg in a 312 mile thrust yes
terday, wiped out the last of two
fixed ferry routes across the Lower
Rhine. The other, just south of
Rees, was under close range Cana
dian artillery fire.
The Germans blew up their last
Duisburg bridges yesterday and
aerial reconnaissance showed the
great Hohenzollern Bridge at
Cologne also@ had been blown up
The Nazis were shelling it from the
east bank, indicating they had no
intention of staging a Stalingrad-
like defanxe .Eologne. One United
States staff officer estimated they
had only 1000 soldiers left to gar
rison the city.
The Nazis have blown all the serv-
iceable bridges across the Rhine be-
tween Bonn and the Dutch border
with the exception of the road and
rail bridges at Wesel and a make
shift one at Rheinberg.
Sd Army Advances.
To the south the news blackout
imposed on American Sd Army oper-
ations in order to screen its prog
ress from the retreating enemy was
still IN force, but front dispatches
were permitted to reveal gains of
up to 212 miles on a 25-mile front
stretching from miles southeast of
Bitburg to miles northeast of
Pruem.
Third Army troops, repulsing
seven counterattacks in the last "a
hours, captured three towns on the
west bank of the Kyll River and
made new crossings to the east
bank.
Third Army infantry and armor
were holding 30-mile stretch along
the Kyll from the junction of the
Moselle and Kyll Rivers east OF
Trier TO point miles east of
Pruem
The drive to the Rhine continued
north of Cologne.
American infantry reached the
Rhine in another place miles south
of Dusseldorf. They cleared Rhein-
kassel S miles north of Cologne,
and were on the outskirts of Langel,
mile and half farther north.
Power Stations Captured.
On the southwestern outskirts of
Cologne the 104th Division pusfSed
to the southern suburbs without op-
position. Outside the city the troops
captured the great Goldenberg pow-
er station, which provided electricity
for a large mining and industrial
area.
Cologne would be the greatest city
Germany has lost in two world wars.
The lO4th Division, commanded by
Maj. Gen. Terry Allen, cleared the
Western Muengersdorf section of
Cologne and moved deeper into the
city through the Braunhfeld region
and lacked only about miles of
running clear through the city to
the Rhine Overnight the timber
wolves" had advanced 1000 yards
against little opposition.
THE fall of Cologne is a matter
Of hours" Associated Press Corre-
spondent Don Whitehead wire
lessed from the ruins. There is no
doubt that the Germans do not
have sufficient forces inside the
city to halt the 3rd Armored and
104th Infantry Divisions"
1st Division Gains.
The 1st Division, fighting Just
south of Cologne, advanced 8 miles
to a point 31z miles from the Rhine.
Armor and infantry gained up to
6 miles toward Bonn, which is Is
miles south of Cologne.
The American 7th Army finally
cleared the important railroad and
industrial French city of Forbach
in a steady Tightening of a siege
ring on Saarbruecken. Nearby
Stirring Wendell also was cleared
and the Americans liberated 1850
Allied prisoners of war, most of
whom were i'll. The captives were
believed largely French and likely
Gid not include any Americans,
The 35th Division crashed into
Rhineberg, an important ferry point
miles south of Vessel.
The Germans continued their
flight across the Rhine by small
boats and ferries under cover of
night. Field Marshal Won Rund-
stedt was believed having extreme
difficulty extricating his heavy
sQuipment-doubly precious now