The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-01-30
Part OF Town
In Reich Held
By Americans
First Army Also On Attack
Within Two Miles OF
Nazi Soil

PARIS, Jan. 29-(P-The U. S.
Third Army smashed into Germany
at two new points today, crossing
the Our river from Belgium and
battering into the outposts of the
Siegfried line in a storm Of fire
from enemy tanks and self-pro-
PEELED guns.
Unable to bring up assault boats
and bridging equipment over the
Jagged, snow-banked terrain, the
Doughboys waded through the icy
waters four feet deep and clam-
bered up the steep banks into the
Reich. Part of one German town
was in American hands tonight.
The crossings were forced at Pc
terskirche and Operhausen, seven
and ten miles south of st. With and
some Is miles southwest of Prum,
the Eifel mountain road and rail-
way center which supplies the Sieg-
fried line.
Ahead of the charging ground
forces, bouncing Allied fighterbom-
bers caught the Germans once
more trying to withdraw and knock
ed out more than half of 1000 mo-
tor vehicles spotted on the roads.
Incomplete reports said pilots
claimed destruction of $50 vehicles,
damaging SIT, destruction of 10
tanks and armored vehicles and
damaging of two more. The convoy
was caught 10 miles southeast Of
st. With.
CA Berlin broadcast declared
American pressure was mounting
on this front)
The U. S. First Army to the
north also was on the attack, liz
quidating the Belgian bulge and
hammering out a bulge of its own
within two miles of the Reich after
three and a half mile advance
placed it on or beyond the jump
off line of the German winter of
fensive.
1t. Gen. George S. Patton's Third
Army troops, who first stalled the
ambitious German winter drive by
cracking hard against the south
flank, now were carrying the war
back to enemy soil.
Two to three miles east of the
river lies the main belt of the
Siegfried fortific tons, into which
the bulk of the German armies re-
tired after collapse of their push
in the Ardennes.
These defense works in the Eifel
mountains make this an arduous
route to the Rhine, but it was pos
sible the decision to charge on into
the Reich came after indications
that the Germans were weakening
Western forces to prop the sagging
Russian front.
Heavy and medium bombers join.
ed the assault on the enemy's com"
munication lines, and in all, more
than $500 Allied planes caught rail
and motor transport behind the bait
tie lines in a tornado of destruc-
ton.
The French First Army in SOUTH
ern Alsacc fought to within a hall
mile of the enemy citadel OF Col
mar and was pressing hard against
the German canal defenses OF the
Rhine valley, threatening to force
the Nazi from a 20-mile salient
menacing Strasbourg from the
south.
A front dispatch said the Arden.
mes withdrawal, coupled with re-
versals on the Eastern Front, was
sapping German morale and that
desertions we're increasing. 1t was
estimated the enemy had with.
drawn at least a fourth of its air
strength and shifted it to meet the
Soviets.
The Third Army's private inva-
sion of the Reich along the Mo
selle river valley made its deepest
penetration to date-a point five
and a half miles northeast OF the
embourg-German-French corn
err and 20 miles southwest of the
Siegfried fortress of Thier.
The remainder of the snoW-bound
front was quiet except for enemy
Smelling. The Germans were lob
bling 15-inch shells into the Saverne
gap on the U. S. Seventh Army
front. They were plastering the
British with artillery on the Roer
river front at st. Odilienburg. two
and a half miles south of Roer-
mond
Despite waist-deep snowdrifts,
1t. Gen. Courtney H. Hodges First
Army broadened its three-mile as
sault line to at least six miles,
The surprising lack Of resistance
Continued on Page Two; Gel. 81
4.