Evening star., 1945-03-21

| Newspaper Aliance)
and British heavy bombers pulver-l
lied targets in the Ruhr.
Four 3rd Army columns closed on
Ludwigshafen Mannheim and two
ofthem were only miles away. Both
cities are largely shambles. Both
have long been favorite air targets
because of their great chemical
works, machine shops, rubber and
leather factories. sprawling railroad
yards and vast Rhine port facilities.
One column, in an 11-mile advance,
reached Lambscheim, 6 miles west
of Ludwigshafen. The 18th Armored
Division advanced IA miles east to
within miles of the city at a
point miles from the Rhine and
miles from Worms.
Compared to the staggering enemy
losses, American casualties were
amazingly light, Associated Core
spondent Edward D. Ball reported.
The 3rd and 7th Armies made a
second hnk-up in the Saarland in
the vicinity of Ottweiler, IA miles
northeastof Saarbruecken-a black
ened industrial city leveled last win
ter by nine successive days Of 3rd
Army artillery bombardment.
Gap Burst Wide Open.
The Wissembourg Gap into the
Palatinate had been burst wide open
by the 7th Army and the last pie
shaped German wedge west of the
Rhine was evaporating at a rate
which indicated a complete clean
up within 48 hours.
A good many Allied officers, twice
disappointed and wary, now were
willing to bet that the European war
would be ended within 60 days-but
they were getting some takers.
There was talk at supreme Allied
headquarters that the German COM
mand had or would soon try to cry
quits-but there was nothing more
than the obvious military situation
on which to base that possibility.
The military situation spoke for
itself.
Gen. Eisenhower told civilians and
foreign workers to flee the doomed
Ruhr now. He had terrifying air
and artillery might as we'll as five
or six picked armies opposite the
great war foundry valley to back up
his warning.
The Sd and 7th Armies had the
Saar conquered and had virtually
won the whole of Hesse and the
Palatinate-the western 18th of
Bavaria-as we'll,
Gerolsheim Reached.
The Sd Army's Gath Division
plunged 1912 miles eastward and
reached Gerolsheim, miles north
west of Ludwigshafen.
Two combat teams of the 4th
Armored (BreakthroughD Division
were mopping up inside Worms. The
80th tBlue Ridge Division was
cleaning up inside Kaiserslautern,
second largest Palatinate city, and
had advanced miles beyond that
great traffic center, served by an
other of Hitler's superhighways. The
Blue Ridge men also pushed 9 miles
east of Kaiserslautern to an area
18 miles west of Ludwigshafen
Rhine bridges at Worms were
blown up as the Americans ap-
preached. But at last reports. five
bridges were standing between
Worms and Karlsruhe.
Not only did Gen. Patton take
prisoners by the thousands, he cap
tured or destroyed scores of ammu-
milton and supply dumps and took so
much booty that a staggering task
is awaiting his quartermasters in
sorting it. The general broadcast
orders to all trucks in the rear to
empty, race forward and pick up
loads of Germans and materiel.
The speed of the Sd Army on
slaught was demonstrated by the
fact that an 8-inch gun battery
supporting the Both Division was in
position to harry the foe one min
ute and out of range 10 minutes
later. 1nfantrymen these days travel
mostly by truck on advances such
as that now in progress.
Heavy Destruction.
Yesterday alone Allied bombing
and strafing destroyed 1,739 motor
trucks and damaged 1866 along
the jammed road of the disorgan-
lied German fight. Some SO tanks
and armored vehicles were knocked
out by planes and % more were
damaged. The pilots destroyed 948
railroad cars and damaged $50.
They destroyed 90 locomotives and
damaged SO.
The 1st Army controlled 40 little
towns and two airports east of the
Rhine and had fought through the
rugged Slebengeburg. leading to the
Ruhr and the heart of Germany.
Gen. Eisenhower already has per-
mitted Identification of % armored
divisions among the 80 infantry and |
armored divisions in combat on
the western front.
The northern extremity of the |
east Rhine "windfall" bridgehead |
was beyond Beuel, manufacturing
suburbs of Bonn and a Rhine port
with 2 miles of quays at Giesler,
1000 yards from the confluence of
the Sieg and Rhine Rivers.
Small gains were hacked out on
both the north and south flanks of
the brideghead, but there was vir-
tually no change on the eastern side,
where the Westerwald terrain is
tortuous.
The Germans tried for a third
time yesterday to recapture the air.
field east of the Ruhr- Frankfurt
superhighway. The attempt was