The Wilmington morning star., 1945-03-04
Allies Chase German
Armies Across Rhine
CONTINUED. from Page One)

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of 10 miles of the Rhine's west bank
northwestWard from Dusseldorf,
American shells were ripping into
the factories of the Ruhr on th>
east bank, and the: custom was
whether the great offensive had
enough momentum to- cross the
river. (: -.
A front dispatch said sthere was
no confirmation Of repeated broad
casts that patrols alreadyShad eros
sed the Rhine.
Certainly the Germans intend to
make, no stand west of the river
and rearguards fought: savagely
only to hold back the Allied tide OF
troops and tanks while the bulk OF
the forces fled by bicycles, carts
and every other kind of transport
across the bridges and by boat.
Advances s.-.i.:ss
On the southern end of the active
western front, the U. S: Third army
advanced as much as three miles,
moving its 45-mile assault line re-
lentlessly eastward toward the
Rhine through the rugged Eifel
country. ....'
In the Rhine battle: the Germans
rolled or river. crossing attempt by
blowing all three bridges at Dues
seldorf, but 10 miles to. the north
west the Second Armored division
battled for possession of another
inside Uerdingen.
/ Northward along the disinteg-at-
ing front, the Germans had only
five bridges intact. and these now
were in artillery range.
Three of them were at Duisburg.
only nine miles east of the 84th
Infantry division, which had sew
cred the highway leading into the
nearby crossing eity of }Homberg.
The other two were Is miles
farther northwest at. Vessel, where
the Canadian first army was only
eight miles away, but one of these
had been bombed and was believed
TO be Virtually useless.
The junction of tanks and troops
OF the Canadian first and 1t. Gen.
William H. Simpsons Ninth Army
came after six-mile push north
ward by the Americans from Gel
dern.
West Of them, the horsepower.
full Mas river line was deserted
by the Germans and the mop-up
was expected to yield few prison.
ers.
The drive eastward to crush in
the sides of. the box was impeded
by blown bridges and demolitions
and the Germans pulled out sc
quickly that the pursuers often lost
cont It.
There was no accurate estimate
Of the number of Germans west o,
the Rhine on this front. One front
dispatch, asserting that the Ger
mans had executed successful
withdrawal, said the enemy nigh
have remnants of :, six division.
there, or less than 10000 men.
In any event, the German frs
parachute and 18th armies already
had taken beating in the often
sive, for it was announced tina
up to yesterday the Canadian frs
and the U.7S first and ninth armie
had taken nearly. $4,000 prisoner
in little more than week.
Now that the Germans had beel
virtually written off on the north
ern end of the front. 1t. Gen.. Co~-t
ney H. Hodges first army wa
driving for another kill in tn
Cologne sector.
1t was the third armored division
which launched the surprised as
sault with two task forces north
west Of Cologne.
In a dash around the end of th'
powerful defenses before the city
they captured Geyen and reached
Poulheim, both only four mile
from the outskirts of Cologne
The Germans threw in two coun
terattacks by the ninth and elev
enth armored divisions, but the.
were unable to check the assault