Evening star., 1945-03-05
Homberg Also Token;
Totol Of Coptives
Passes 10000
BULLETIN.
BULLETIN.
PARIS (P. = First Army
Tanks late today fought a mile
deep inside Cologne.
MAP on Page A-5).

By the Associated Press.
PARIS, Mar. 5. - American
tanks and infantry stormed int
Cologne at 7:10 am. today in
final powerful attack on tht
great Rhineland metropolis ane
slowly fought toward the heart
of Germany's fourth largest city
The final assault started in the
cold darkness of 4 am.
Mai. Gen. Maurice Roses Sc
Armored Division passed the city
limits, striking from the north
through the suburbs of Bockele-
muend. There the tanks were about
3 miles from the towering Gothic
cathedral at the heart of Cologne
long the most ravaged city of the
Rhineland.
House to house fighting was
touched off quickly, Associated
Press Correspondent Don White
head, with the 1st Army. reported
Cologne Under Pail of Smoke.
Cologne lay under a pail of smoke
The thunder of battle was rolling
across the city in increasing fury
as the Americans closed in for the
kill on the 18th day of their great
drive from the Roer River, 81 miles
behind.
\ To the north, the American 9th
Army captured Homberg, manu-
featuring west bank suburb of Duis-
burg, and the approaches to two
Rhine bridges. 1t. Gen. William H.
Simpsons men stood on the Rhine
for Is miles and Canadians to the
north held another 52-mile stretch
of the meandering west banks.
Germans surrendered by the
thousands; the total in the offen-.
sive passed 10000. A blackout was
imposed partially on Sd Army move
ments toward Coblenz and the Mid
die Rhine, suggesting an imminent
breakthrough there.
The 7th Army fought in the Sieg-
fried Line just outside the Saar
capital of Saarbruecken, which was
under heavy artillery fire.
Heavy Artillery Fire.
Artillery also was pouring heavy
fire in massed salvoeS from Amer
lean guns wheel to wheel outside
Cologne, ringed on all its sides west
of the Rhine.
Cologne, a city of 10000, is sur
passed in size in Germany only by
Berlin 1882, 2,000), Hamburg Q,918,-
0OO and Munich (828,3 ,325l.
Smoke rolled up from fires and ex-
plosions set in Cologne by bursting
American shells. The Doughboys
inside the city caught flashing
glimpses through the pail of the
slender 512-foot tower of the 18th
century cathedral. Artillery and
troops had been ordered to hold
their fire away from the magnificent
structure.
At 9 am, 1t. Col. John Welborn,
of Southern Pines, N. c., had his
troops fighting at Longerich on the
northern end of the sprawling rail-
way yards of Cologne, one of the
greatest rail centers in Europe and
the chief traffic center for all West
ern Germany.
Task Force Enters City.
The first column to cross the city
limits from the north was task
force of armor and infantry COM
manded by 1t. Col. L. L. Doan of
Houston, Tex.
Resistance from remnants of six
tank and Volksgrenadier divisions
was comparatively light on the
fringe of the city. The Germans
had pulled most defenders deeper
into the ruins, leaving antitank
and fax guns to guard approaches
over which tanks clanked.
Infantrymen went in to clean out
factories and houses in which the
Germans were holed up. Tanks ran
up and opened fire at point blank
range into houses which were
Strongpoints.
While Gen. Roses tanks struck
down from the north, Maj. Gen.
Terry Aliens 104th (Timberwolf)
Division was driving in from the
west
About 1000 desperately fighting
Germans were trapped outside the
city when the Sd Armored Division
cut the last road leading to the
Hohenzollern Bridge across the
Rhine, 1900 to 1,70O feet wide at
Cologne.
Infantry of the 9th Army cap
tured western approaches to two
Rhine bridges in the cross-river
suburbs of Duisburg in a victory in
which Homberg was taken.
(The Germans said today
Rhine bridges at Duisburg had
been destroyed, leaving crossings
only at Wesel and Cologne on the
lower reaches of the river)
Duel RACES Across Rhine.
A great artillery duel ragged across
the Rhine and the Germans broad
cast unsubstantiated reports that
the Americans already had won
their first crossing. At supreme AL
lied headquarters, this was regarded
as unlikely, but sign of how the
Nazis are thinking.
Southwest of Cologne, the LIST
Army captured the prize transit
center of Euskirchen population
14,500), Erft River Junction of eight
Eight additional men from
the District area has been