Evening star., 1945-02-02


French troops at noon today
broke into the northern end
of Colmar, provincial French
capital 40 miles south of
Strasbourg., CThe Paris radio
later today said Colmar had
been captured.)
By the Associated Press.
PARIS, Feb. 2.-American and
French troops today cleared sc
miles of the left bank of the
Rhine below Strasborug and laid
"a heavy artillery barrage on
the Neufbrisach railroad escape
bridge from less than a mile
away.
In the center of the western front
the American 1st and Sd Armies
probed deeper into the thinly
manned Siegfried Line and ad-
vanced up to 2 miles in its fringes
on the western slopes of the Eifel
Mountains opposite the erased Ar
dennes bulge.
Half a dozen German hamlets
were taken; more lines of dragon
teeth tank barriers were passed ::
scores of pillboxes-many undefend-
ed-Were captured
The passive German resistance in
the center strengthened the sus-
picion that the enemy might be fall
ing back to the Rhine, from 20 to
so miles east OF present battle lines
in the center and north.
Other Advances Scored.
An announcement from 1t. Gen.
Jacob L. Devers' 9Th Army Group
told of the victory below Strasbourg
in an area manned until recently by
$4,000 resolute German troops.
The threat to the Alsatian capital
was all but dissipated, for gains also
were made on the north, pushing the
Germans to points about Is miles
away from Strasbourg.
The American Sd and 28th Divi-
sions and French lst Army troops
fought to near Biesheim, a mile
from Neufbrisach. There, one of
the few standing Rhine railroad
bridges to Breisach in Germany, pro-
tected by fortresses atop the 1900
foot kaiserstuhl Hill. The Rhine
there is from 120 to 220 yards wide,
20 feet deep and steep banked.
Colmar itself was almost sur
rounded and Allied troops fought in
its suburbs. The villages of Andol-
sheim, Widensolen, Artzenheim, and
Kuenheim. between Comar and the
Rhine, were captured. Comar, capi-
tai of Haut-Rhin Province, lies 40
miles south of Strasbourg.
Counterattack Checked.
North Of Strasbourg, 1t. Gen.
Alexander M. Patchs 7th Army
troops who fought across the Moder
River contained a German tank
supported counterattack inside
Oberhoffen. Another raiding force
crossed the Moder between Hague
nau and Schweighouse and inflicted
heavy losses.
Continued thaws slowed somewhat
the 1st and Sd Army onslaughts along
a 40-mile section of the Siegfried
Line opposite the bulge. Despite
their apparent weakness in the line.
the Germans still were moving
troops eastward and Allied air pow-
er late yesterday pounded Rhine
bridges and railyards to disrupt the
flow toward the eastern front.
The Americans widened their
stand inside Germany by capturing
Laudesfeld, 6 miles east of st. With
and a little more than miles from
the heavily fortified rail center of
Prum.
The Sd Army advanced up to 2
miles inside Germany beyond the
Our River below St. With, capturing
H C k h us held, GrosslangenfeId.
Winterscheid and several other Ger
man hamlets west of Prum.
The 1st and 82d Divisions of the
lst Army resumed their probings of
the West Wall to the north. and
found a few pillboXes manned. The
1st Division went through lines of
dragon teeth barriers miles east
OF krinkelt. No Germans were
found last night, but this morning
mortar fire was encountered.
The 82d Division took Neuhof at
the southern edge of Undenbreth
a town in the line itself. The cap