Evening star., 1945-03-26

WITH THE U. S. lst ARMY
Rl.-FirSt Army troops in a
sensational coup today
sprinted % miles through
German lines.
UNITED STATES 9th ARMY
IN THE RUHR, Germany tPl.-
The 30th Division today broke
through German defenses on
the Lippe River east of Dor
stem, II miles east of the
Rhine, in a severe infantry
and tank battle.
By the Associated Press.
PARIS, Mar. 26.-Lt. Gen.
George S. Patton's Sd Army to-
day besieged Frankfurt-on-t the
Main and sent its tanks crashing
across the Main at ASchaffen-
burg into the plans of Central
Germany, about $50 miles from
Russian lines.
One unconflrmed report said
Frankfurt had been entered. The
last "dinmed-out" battle accounts
hours before had placed Gen. Pat
tons mighty shock troops 6 miles
away. The city's radio went dead
last night.
The 4th Armored Division again
had burst loose 40 miles beyond the
Rhine in sweep so swift that the
Germans were caught without time
to blow the Aschaffenburg Bridge,
% miles southeast of Frankfurt. The
"Breakthrough" Divisions coup was
so complete that Frankfurt was
hopelessly outfanked. Frankfurt,
with population of $4,000, is the
ninth largest city in Germany and
one of the Reich's greatest railroad
centers.
1t. Gen. Courtney H. Hodges 1st
Army also broke from it's original
Rhine bridgehead at Remagen and
pushed 19 miles east of the shat
tered river line.
Other Allied Advances.
The American 9th and British I'd
Armies in the north of the Ruhr
were 10 miles past the river on
solid 3l-mile front and battle dis
patches said a general breakout
there was expected momentarily.
The decisive fighting of the whole
war now is unequivocally under way
IN the west" a German military
spokesman said by radio from Ber-
lin, 235 miles from vanguards of
Gen. Patton's Army.
The 9th Army of 1t. Gen William
H. Simpson fought in the northeast
suburbs of Duisburg. vast inland
port of 43l 900, and within 10 miles
of Essen, where the sprawling Krupp
works have been rebuilt seven times
after attacks by Allied bombers.
The Germans reported fighting
outside the Baden capital of Karls-
ruhe, suggesting yet another cross
ing by the 7th Army, which had
cleared the Palatinate and routed
the last Germans west of the Rhine
between Switzerland and Holland
The whole western front was
becoming fluid as Gen. Eisenhower's
offensive turned into a powerful
f1oodtide. The humblest infantryman
sensed complete victory over Ger
many, because the Russians also
were pushing in from the east in
massive power.
Gen. Eisenhower, smiling broadly
from jeep crossing a pontoon
bridge across the Rhine, visited
the 1st Army front where sweep
ing new gains were made eastward.
I expect them (the 1st Army
to lick everybody they come up
against" Gen. Eisenhower said
They did it all the way across
France and I see no reason why they
should stop on the road to Berlin -
1st Army Continues Advance.
Gen. Hodges 1st Army exploited
another break-through of decaying
German defenses comparable to the
victory at st. Lo, advancing 3 miles
nearer Berlin overnight from the
Remagen-Bonn sector. A dozen vii
lagos fell.
The American 9th Army advanced
5 miles deeper into the rubble heap
of the Ruhr past outfianked Duis-
burg, deepening its lower Rhine
front to at least 10 miles. The Brit
ish I'd Army with at least one IA
nous Canadian division pushed 10
miles east of the Rhine on the fiat
Westphalian Plains.
More than 80 miles of the east
Rhine banks were firmly in Allied
hands. The final campaign to crush
Germany was rolling up massive
victories all the way from Wesel to
below Frankfurt.
Nazis Unable to Check Attack.
Nowhere was the bewildered and
severely bled Wehrmacht able tc
check the mighty tide of more than
1,250,000 shock troops which Gen
Eisenhower had massed on the west
ern front for the final battle.
Gen. Patton's Sd Army made new
crossings of the Upper Rhine. He
now had seven bridgeheads. The
Main River, which flows through
frankfurt, was crossed on a captured
bridge at Aschaffenburg and reached
at two other points, miles south
west OF Frankfurt and 2 miles east
of Mainz
The Sd Army was more than 4(
miles behind the Rhine and running
ahead unchecked within 235 miles
of Berlin.
Germans were Surrenderinp by
the thousands. The 21st Army
Group in the north, engaging the
bulk and best of the go or SO under
sized German divisions in the west
has taken more than 10000 captives
One additional man from
the District area has been re-