The Wilmington morning star., 1945-04-12

eSeCOnQ (l1cu VII VHee1SJ AIIHOISu
Division, which by-passed the
manufacturing city Of Brunswick
and roared through the heart Of
the Reich against practically non.
existent opposition.
A late front dispatch said the
river could be bridged within a
few hours unless expected resis-
lance developed. This would set
the stage for an early junction with
the Red Army. Correspondents said
the linkup might be made within
a few days.
1t. Gen. William II. Simpsons
Ninth Army troops were 81 miles
away from the southwestern limits
of greater Berlin, which includes
Potsdam, and the Russians were
80 miles from the capital on the
east with the city itself strech-
ing some Is miles beween these
two points.
Accompanying the Ninth Arny's
spectacular advance, six other Al.
lied armies pounded forward in
the great victory-boulnd offensive
which seemed to blow the whole
Western Front wide open.
Essen and Gelsenkirschen, two
mighty industrial cities of the
Ruhr, were captured by infantry.
men of the Ninth Army operating
far in the rear of the armored
spearheads, and other Doughboys
of the Ninth drove into Bochum and
Brunswick.
The Canadian First and British
Second armies famed out toward
an imminent junction that would
close steel trap on possibly 2O0,-
900 German troops in Holland and
northwest Germany, making ad.
vances of up to Is miles.
1t. Gen. Courtney H. Hodges U.
S. First Army broke llnse on a o.
mile rampage that dried within
48 miles of Leipzig, putting these
American troops within 12O miles
of linkup with the Russians.
The Third Army captured ancient
Coburg and clamped a news black
out on two armored divisions after
they had rumbled forward at least
II and IS miles, respectively.
The Seventh Army completely en-
circled the famous ball-bearing
manufacturing city Of Schweinfurt
and stormed into 1t from two sides.
The French First Army fought
forward three miles into the north
ern edge Of the Black Forest, SOUTH
ease Of Karlsruhe.
Thousands of Allied warplsnes
joined in the scourge Of the Ger
man army and pilots reported see
ing white flags raised in many
towns and villages. Many thou
sands of prisoners were rounded
up as the ground forces swept for
ward, capturing cities and clearing
pockets left behind by the onrush-
ing tanks.
Resistance itself varied on CIT
ferent fronts. The Seventh Army
was forced to withdraw from the
commune atoms center of Grail
sheim, AZ miles southwest of
Nuremberg. But even though the
Tenth Armored Division found this
narrow salient too hot to hold it
managed to bring back 1000 pris-
oners in its withdrawal.
Forty miles farther west The
Tooth Division cleared half of He'll
bronn, where fierce fighting has
ragged for days.
But the main attention was focus.
ed on the Ninth Army's tremendous
drive to the Elbe river. It was
not known whether Simpsons tanks
had entered Magdeburg itself, or
whether the bridges there were in.
tact
A big commercial and industrial
center with a prewar population
OF 1884, 1853, Magdeburg has two rail
and two highway bridges across
the Elbe. Five miles north Of the
city one of Hitler's great autobahns
(superhighways crosses the river.
1t appeared likely from CORE
spondents' dispatches that the Am.
orleans had reached the river On
both sides Of the city. The tanks
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