The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-02-09

twin strongholdS of Cleve and Goch that form the northern anchor o1 Germany's west wall.
 First army paratroops, fighting as infantrymen, were reported to have pushed almost five miles into the forest from the west to within about four miles southeast of Cleve and 5 1-2 miles northwest of Goch.
 German resistance, softened and in some places paralyzed by a thun- dering Allied aerial and artillery bombardment, showed no signs of stiffening this morning, "A hours after the start of the offensive that promised to set the whole western front ablazc.
 Aaerial reconnaissance indicated, however, that the Germans were re- covering from their initial surprise and were beginning to rush reserves intot he threatened area.
 At least seven towns, two of them German, were captured i'll the first 12 hours of the advance and one Allied column on the northern flank of the assault line was re- ported less than 3 miles from the Rhine crossing town of Millegen.
 The outer belt of the Siegfried Qualifications already had been cracked and field dispatches indi- cated that the flooded, soggy ter rain was proving almost as great a barrier as the Germans to the AL lies forward progress
 More than 1900 prisoners were captured in the first onrush, and the bag was reported mounting rapidly.
 Headquarters spokesmen made 1t clear that the big push was on to break open Germany's western front in coordination with the Red Army march on Berlin from the east.
 Wrong Prediction
 The combined Anglo-Canadian forces of General H. D. G. Crerar's Canadian First Army went over to the attack against the northern vcorner of the Siegfried wall at moment when jittery Nazi spokes- men were predicting an offensive farther south on the British Second and American Ninth Army fronts.
 Berlin said the British and Amer ican Armies massed along the Roel were deploying for a grand assault on the Cologne Plains.
 Still farther south, the American First Army broke through the Sieg- fried defenses covering the Roel river dams while Lieutenant Gen. eral George s. Patton's Third Army preached the west wall on an eight mile front before Pruem and wor ten crossings of the Sure and Ou1 river lines between Luxembourg anc Germany.
 At the bottom of the Allied front al lorganized German resistance ended suddenly in southern Alsace where a combined French anc American Army cleared out th' Colmar Pocket after more than { month Of fierce fighting.
 The Canadian First Army often sve opened shortly after midnigh Thursday morning when grea fleet of British heavy bombers thun dered across the battle lines t splatter more than 2000 tons o bombs down on Cleve and Goch. At five a. m., hundreds of Allied field guns massed hub to hu opened up with a tremendous bonn bardment that continued for l hours without a let-up.
 Then at 10:30 a. m. Grerar sen his armored and infantry division over the top. The first onrush car ried away the outer works of tn Siegfried line in a matter of hours Hundreds of shell-shocked Nazi surrendered and the advance rolle forward through the Dutch town of Bruk, Zyfflich, Denheuvel, Gel gensteeg and Erlekom, all lying il an arc three to four miles SoutheaS and east of Nijmegen.
 The German towns of Wyler an Kranenburg, on the Nijmegen-Clev highway 1-2 and 5 1-2 miles nortl west of Cleve also were capture before sundown yesterday and tn Allies were reported moving steadil forward.
 Casualties in the opening hour of the attack were light and ther was no immediate signs of stiffen ing German resistance, partly be cause the Nazis were tricked int expecting the offensive farther t the south and partly because of tn blistering air and artillery barrage.
 Upward of 2,700 American an British planes scourged the Germa forward and rear areas in the pat of the attacking ground troor 1. from early morning until nightta Thursday. Concentrations of Gel
 man troops and armor, supply base . highwa aynd railroad lines all can