Evening star., 1945-02-11
Canadians Seize
7 More owns in
keve Offensive
MAP on Page A-4.)
By the Associated Press.

PARIS. Sunday. Feb. Lit.
Gen. Courtney H. Hodges Amer
lean 1st Army captured the i'm
portant Schwammenauel Dam on
the Roer River yesterday follow
ing one of the greatest Allied
artillery barrages of the war.
simultaneously, Canadian 1st
Army men scored new gains and
took two more towns in their Kleve
offensive.
Seizure of the Schwammenauel
Dam, which controls the rivers
flow, was of paramount Importance
ss the British I'd Army and the
American 9th now stand poised on
the western banks of the Roer for
the impending onslaught against
the Rhineland.
Yanks Defy Nazi Blasts.
Gen. Hodges men crossed the
dam to reach the opposite banks
despite the danger of being blown
UP by demolition charges set by the
Nazis. Earlier in the day the enc
my exploded the dam, but Ameri-
can engineers reported the wrecked
barrier was not booby-t trapped as
was expected
1t can now be disclosed that
American guns poured 100000
pounds of shells into German posi-
tions around the Schwammenauel
and other dams during the last six
days. Supreme headquarters has
announced that this shellfire killed
some 200 Nazis, broke up enemy
counterattacks and prevented REIN
forcements from being brought up.
The shattered Schwammenauel
Dam-one of the biggest along the
Roer-was q vital German control
point of a river which Is the chief
barrier before the Allied drive to
the Rhine.
Flooded River Receding.
AS a result of certain enemy de-
molitions along the Schwammenauel
and Heimbach Dams-unspecified
by Allied headquarters as to their
extent and apparently unknown by
headquarters spokesmen as to their
effect-a certain amount of water
is pouring down the Roer. The river
overflowed its banks in the Dueren
area up to Friday noon. 1t then
began to recede, however, and
dropped four inches by late Friday.
Latest reports said it was still re-
ceding.
Earlier today Nazi units exploded
the gates of the Schwammenauel
Dam, sending flood roaring north
through the valley in hopes of boil
steering their western defenSes. In
so doing, they tossed away a trump
with which they had forestalled
since November an Allied smash
into the Ruhr and Rhineland.
Canadian 1st Army troops made
new gains in their Kleve offensive,
capturing two more towns-Hein-
kont, mile and a half south of
Weller, and Schottheide, a mile and
half deeper into the Reichswald
Forest. German resistance in this
sector was increasing.
Other Canadian units moved onto
high ground south and southwest
of the medieval citadel of Kleve,
which the enemy has converted into
a Siegfried Line bastion.
Allies Use Smokescreens.
In this offensive the Allies have
resorted to using smokescreens.
They threw one 1000 yards in length
across the banks of the Rhine dur
ing the first day of the attacks and
followed 1t up with one twice that
length the next day.
Late reports said no important
counterattacks had been launched
against the Canadians. The Ger
mans have employed some self-pro-
PEELED guns against troops fighting
near the edge of Kleve, but so far
no Nazi tanks have been thrown in.
1t was not quite clear exactly
what happened after men of the
United States 1st Army's 309th IN
fantry Regiment of the 18th Divi-
sion stormed the big Roer Dam
What Is known however, is that the