The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-03-27

rampaging Third Army tank col- umns still held the spotlight of battle.
 Patton's headquarters clamped a security blackout over the progress of his most advanced spearheads last night after the Yanks had broken into Main, Germany's ninth city. and plunged on to the northeast and southeast.
 Front correspondents were per- mitted to report only that the ad- vance was continuing and that c steady tide of men and armor was racing through Patton's three bridgeheads across the Rhine south of Coblenz and Mainz.
 But alarmed German spokeSmen said the Third Army had broken loose into the NaI rear areas 90 miles beyond the Rhine at a point where the waist" of Germany nar- rows to barely 200 miles.
 Radio Frankfurt interrupted . broadcast to blurt out a warning that Patton's tanks and armored cars had driven into Hosenfeld, 42 miles northeast of Frankfurt and only 8 1-2 miles southwest of Tulda.
 Frankfurt itself was entered last night by armored and infantry col- mnS of the Third Army, who broke into the section of the city lying south of the main river. The main bridges leading into the principal part of the city were reported blown or mined for demolition, but there appeared little likelihood Of a pro- longed German stand there.
 Near Wiesbaden
 Third Army forces already were moving along the north bank of the Main from the weSt-the Germans said they were at Wiesbaden, IA miles to the weSt-and were clos ing in swiftly from the east and north.
 German spokeSmen said American First Army forces from the north had raced to within l 1-2 miles of Bad Nauheim, almost 50 miles beyond the Rhine and IA miles north of Frankfurt, completing the envelop- ment of the city.
 South and southeast of Frankfurt, Patton's armored divisions also were rampaging almost at will through the chaotic enemy lines. Radio Frankfurt issued an urgent call for volunteers to help round up scat tered German units throughout the area for a new stand, indicating the complete demoralization of the enemy in that sector.
 The broadcaster said Patton'S forces were nearing the neckar val ley, suggesting that the Americans were flaming out toward Heidelburg 48 miles south of Frankfurt.
 There was no confirmation of Lon- don reports that another Patton col lumn was at or near Wuerzburg, 80 road miles east of the Rhine and about 60 miles southeast of Frank furt, but headquarters observers saw no reason to question them in view of the fluid condition of the front.
 At some points German units were fighting back with small tank forces and heavy artillery, but these were mainly localized actions and there appeared to be no coherent enemy battle line in the path of Patton's' armor.
 Radio Berlin said Patton was over the Rhine in "over- -whelming strength and acknowledged the death in action of a General Runge
 Similar reports of German chaos and confusion flowed in from It General Courtney H. Hodges U. s, First Army front, now rapidly ap- preaching juncture with Patton's men in the area east of the Rhine and north of the Main river.
 Hodges troops broke out of their Remagen bridgehead in earnest yesterday, spearheaded by the great est concentration of armor ever thrown into action by the First Army.
 Front reporters said hundreds of tanks were blowing through the broken German defenses east and southeast of the Remagen bridge head and one correspondent re- ported that anything can happen now" on the First Army Line.
 One armored column charged p miles southeaStWard along the Cologne Frankfurt superhighway in less than 12 hours yesterday and drove into Limburg, on the Lahn river. Fierce street fighting ragged there all night, but by morning en- emy resistance had been reduced to a few isolated pockets. Bridge Destroyed
 At Limburg, Hodges men were 20 miles east of the Rhine and 30 miles northwest of Frankfurt. Only the narrow Lahn river flowing through Limburg separated the First and Third armies, but late dispatches said the Limburg bridge had been destroyed.
 There was no confirmation of the enemy report that Hodges forces stabbed 29 miles east of Limburg to Bad Nauheim.
 United Press War Correspondent AIlIl 0tIu IulecI IcpOItcu, AoWCFUA, tAos the Americans were making spec tacular progress east and northeast of Limburg against sporadic opposi- ton. They entered Arfurt, six miles to the east. and Wirbelau and Weil- burg, eight and Il miles to the northeast.
 Weilburg, 39 miles east of the Rhine, was taken by an armored column that raced ahead more than AZ miles in a dozen hours along the northren flank of the Limburg force, capturing Hackholzhausen, Steinbach and a cluster of smaller villages in it's path.
 Ten miles farther to the north, another First Army Force reached Hibligen, 35 miles east of the Rhine.
 Along the northeastern shoulder of the First Army salient, the Ameri- cans captured the key enemy road raptnr Of Altonkirnhar 0Q r1i1oS