The Wilmington morning star., 1945-03-10
Nazii Attempt
.ToPushYanks
Back Started
Writer Says Assault May
Not Succeed Due To
u. S. Speed

PARIS, Saturday, March 10-R
The first major battle of the
U. S. First Arny's Rhine bridge
head was taking form today as
German columns converged on the
American toehold east of the riv-
er and began pumping heavy shells
at the bridge on which the cross
ing was made.
A field dispatch said the enemy
forces were seen approaching the
scene last night with all lights on
presumably evidence of violent
reaction to the Allies growing
threat to inner Germany.
In a dispatch sent from the
bridgehead at 2 am, Associated
Press Correspondent Don White
head said there is no doubt that
the Germans are making a SUI
preme effort to bring up available
strength to throw in counter
attack designed to drive the AM
orleans back across the Rhine
But he expressed the view that
the Germans already had lost the
race. The First Army is steadily
strengthening the bridgehead with
what he called an "aWesome dis
play of power
The Americans smashed the first
tank-led counter-attack at the
bridgehead yesterday. To the
south, the First and U. S. Third
Armies linked up west of the
Rhine, trapping an estimated 50,-
600 Germans to the west.
Whitehead said that no sooner
does an American unit get across
the Remagen bridge than it goes
into Line.
There's no time to fool around"
he quoted Maj. Ben Cothran. LAS
soon as man steps on this bridge.
head he has got to start fighting"
The Germans, Whitehead said,
are trying desperately to knock
out the bridge with heavy guns
and suicide air raids. They are lob
bling 155 and 210 millimeter shells
constantly at the 1,200-foot span.
Men, guns, tanks and supplies
poured into the expanding bridge
head % miles south of Cologne
across the great Ludendorff
bridge, officially disclosed to nave
been taken intact.
German planes in ones, twos and
threes tried repeatedly to knock
out the bridge during the day, but
were shot down or driven off by
alert antiaircraft gunners guard
ing what for the moment is the
key. to the whole battle against
Germany on the west.
Supreme Headquarters BACKED
out the scope of the advance,
but it was possible that a break
out on the road to Berlin might
be disclosed at any hour.
CA Blue Network correspondent
broadcast from the front that the
bridgehead had been doubled in
size and width since yesterday and
that "a number of towns and VII
lagos" had oeen capturcdD
Bonn, Rhineland city of 1O1 900
fell to the First Army north of the
middle Rhine bridgehead, and the
Third Army to the south battled
within four miles of the traffic cen-
ter of Coblenz after sweeping thu
enemy from the Coblenz plain
west of the Rhine.
On one of the blacklist days foe
Germany since Hitler plunged Eu.
rope into the second World war
within generation, the Allies
handed the enemy more bad news
by disclosing that the U. S. 15ta
Army now was on the Western
Front at an undisclosed sector.
Under It. Gen.. Leonard =.
GeroW, corps commander .
D-Day, the new 18th gave Gen
Eisenhower nine armies-five Il
them American-for the showdown
battles Of Germany.
The Germans counter-attackaA
1t. Gen. Courtney H. HodgsG'
First Army bridgehead in force foe
the first time today with elements
of an armored division, but were
hurled back. 1t was estimated
that the bridgehead now was 10 q
or more miles wide.
Obviously, the German Hi
Command was marshalling an
available forces to attempt to drive
the Americans into the Rhine. A.
lied heavy bombers carried out
two obliteration raids on Kasssl
rail city 10 miles east of tho
bridgehead, to keep enemy con,
munic atoms snarled.
1t was considered likely here
Continued on Page Three; Col. y