Evening star., 1945-02-12
City of 10000
Largest Taken
In Offensive
MAP on Page A-4.)

PARIS, Feb. 12.-Kleve, north
ern anchor of the Siegfried Line
was captured today by the Cana
dian 1St Army.
The CITY of 10000 lies u miles east
of Nijmegen, starting point of the
Canadian and British offensive
Reduced to ruins by Allied aerial
and artillery poundings, it was the
largest place yet captured in the
five -day-old drive
About lis miles to the south the
American Sd Army won half of the
major traffic center of Pruem, which
the Germans apparently were aban-
doning.
In between, Roer River floods Gre
ated by German preaching of head
water dams kept the American 9th
Army and the British I'd Army i'm
mobile The reservoirs behind the
opened dams still were draining, but
the Roer, miles wide at one place
did not appear to be rising further
than the 7-foot stage already
reached at some points.
Bulge Is Enlarged
The Canadian, British and Scotch
bulge was enlarged on both the
north and south ends of the Kleve
sector, and Allied lines encompassed
more than three-fourthS of the
Reichswald The Allies were beyond
the main defenses of the original
Siegfried Line in the north.
The Canadians cleaned the low
Rhine lands up to railroad con-
Meeting Kleve with the river and
forced the Spoy Canal, leading 4
miles north of Kleve to the Rhine.
At points below Kleve, the Allies
were within % miles of Wesel on
the Rhine, nearest city of the great
Ruhr industrial valley.
The Canadians bypaSSed or cap
tured Rindern, Wasserburg, Wardhsn
and Brienen.
Gennep Captured.
The Dutch border town of Genner
(3.272) was captured by Gen Henry
Crerar's Canadians and British and
the Niers River to the east was
crossed. Vanguards passed a road
through the shell-splintered Reichs-
Wald mile north of Kessel which
lies 4 miles northwest of the West
Wall road center of Goch, The
prisoner bag rose to 1000. most of
them teen-age youth or infirm men
Fighting in the Rhine elbow be-
tween the medieval fortress ruins
of Kleve and the river was described
as almost an amphibious operation
because of the extensive thaw and
flooding of the easily drowned Ger
man and Dutch tlatlands. A vast
array of amphibious equipment in
cluding buffaloes and ducks kept
the offensive on the move.
tThe Germans said "the enemy
is breaking through our Mas
River defenses" near Kleve and
that preparations were proceed
ing for IAN impending large scale
offensive In the Aachen-Ven
area.D
Roer Reaches Flood Peak.
Supreme headquarters said the
flood peak on the Roer apparently
had been reached and that water
could be expected to subside during
the next few days to something ap-
preaching normal. Most flooding was
downstream from Dueren where the
ground is fiat. Upstream from Duer-
en-. the river is rushing madly anG
deep barely contained within its
banks.
The American 1st Army which
lreached the great dam mopped ur
the west and north sides of the Roel
to Heimbach, 13 miles deep in Ger
many.
The Germans apparently were CIV
ing up Pruem population 2,840)
which was under Sd Army fronta
and flanking pressure from the
northeast and southwest. Resist
ance was scattered. The town con-
trolls a network of roads over which
Field Marshal Won Rundstedt fec
his offensive in the Ardennes bulge
Across new Sure River invasion
bridgeheads, the Sd Army extended
its hold north of Echternach to ar
area 2 miles deep and miles wide.
The United States 7th Army ir