Evening star., 1945-04-27
Sd dArmy's sAdvonce
Nearly Seals Off
CzechosIovukiu
BULLETIN.
WITH UNITED STATES Sd
ARMY R.-Regensburg fell to
Gen. Patton's troops today.
BULLETIN.
the Associated Press.

the Associated Press.
rARIS, April 27.-The Ameri-
can 1st Army and the Russians
have joined in the heart of Ger
many near Leipzig. cutting the
Reich in two.
Even as troops of Gen. Courtney
H. Hodges and Marshal Ivan S. Ko.
nev solidified their junction at Tor
gau, Gen. George S. Patton's Amer
lean Sd Army invaded Austria and
established radio contact with the
Russians west of Vienna in a swift
maneuver which virtually sealed of
Czechoslovakia and cut the Ger
mans vanishing hold in Europe into
three great death traps.
The junction Of the Americans
and Russians hopelessly outflanked
the Saxony capital of Dresden and
split German armies for reduction
in detail.
Both the Germans northern and
southern pockets were under violent
and increasing assault. Three OF
Gen. Eisenhower armies attacked
the Bavarian redoubt, moving with.
in 81 miles of Munich. Two Allied
armies were driving up from the
south past Verona, and the Russians
were closing in from the east.
Advances In North.
The northern pocket was under
violent assault from Russians on the
east and from the British. Canadian
and American 1st and 9th Armies
on the south and west. The British
advanced past captured Bremen In
q drive to cut of Denmark and
Schleswig- Holstein. Hamburg was
besiesed. The Canadians broke the
Kusten Canal line and moved on
smaller North Sea ports. The Ger
man command said the 9th Army
crossed the Lower Elbe on both sides
of Tangermuende, where another
junction with the Russians was i'm
minent If it had not already taken
place.
The end Of the Germans fight
was not yet, but it was inevitably
brought closer. The Germans still
had $50 divisions, most of them
under strength, but many of them
fighting with the desperation of the
doomed. Many were SIS units.
The meeting of the 1st Army ane
the Russians in the heart of Ger.
many was a dramatic moment. The
armies had come from places hall
world apart.
Except for the incredible fanati.
ciSm Of the die-hard Nazis' last
stand, the meeting might have
ended the worst war that the world
has ever known.
Threshold of Victory.
But though the fight went on
and may last for weeks, it carried
the western and eastern Allies te
the Threshold of sure victory.
The two armies fought their way
to the junction across the whole
breadth of Europe-2,200 airline
miles from Stalingrad on the Volga
and from the Normandy coast or
the Atlantic, which Gen. Eisenhowe,
invaded last June 6.
When the armies met on the greer
plain OF the Elbe they shared ever
in the honors of smashing the mos
formidable fortress and one of tn.
mightiest fighting forces on earth
The Americans had come q bit
over one-third of the way in little
under one-third of the time.
There was one immediate anc
one longer range significance of thu
junction. 1t split the German Army
into two great siege pockets-ir
effect meaning the end to organized
resistance on a full Wehrmach,
scale.
It put the Russian and American
armies into closer coordination ane
closer comaraderie of arms thar
ever before. This potentially createe
the pre-conditions of partnership
in the Far East should Russia entel
the war against Japan when ths
conflict ends in Europe.
The French closed to within 81
miles of Munich and 78 miles of the
Brenner Pass, toward which the
American 5th Army in Italy was
striking from the south. The I'll
Army approached Munich from IS
miles northwest of that cradle OF
the Nazi party.
At last reports, many hours be-