The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-03-09
Yanks Cross Rhine,
 Overrun Many Towns
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chance that promised to alter the course of the entire war and save thousands of American lives.
 German spokesmen said bitterly that l7O-yard-long bridge at Remag- en accidentally nac not been de- otroyed" by Naz engineers-an over sight that indicated the spreading dislntegration of the German Rhine land armies.
 Their entire Rhineland front was caving in under the blows of four Allied armies and the Hinterland itself was in peril from the new breakthrough. With the double tracked Ludendorf bridge in Amer ican hands, the First Army was in position to throw its heaviest guns ana armor into the attack and field dispatches indicated the Americans were doing just that
 Stil another crossing appeared Imminent a few miles south of Re- magen, where powerful armored units of It. Gen. George s. Pattons American Third army were loose on the west bank of the Rhine, menac- ing the Coblenz and Fingers bridges.
 Barely 70 hours after the first Americans stabbed across the river Wednesday evening, the bridgehead was solidly established and swell ing tide of men and armor was swinging in for the pay-off bat tie of the western war
 United Press War Correspondent C. R. Cunningham reported from the east side of the Rhine that Hodges cocky Doughboys were clearing out town after town in a fast drive southeastward from the crossing point.
 Many of the captured towns were completely undamaged, indicating the speed and tactical surprise of the crossing, which many observers believed would shorten the war by months.
 There isn't even a threat of our getting kicked out" Cunningham re- ported
 He revealed that youthful First Army officer, Second It. Bur roughs, led a small force of Ameri- cans across the Rhine shortly be- fore nightfall Wednesday after a hurried reconnaissance had uncov- cred a weak link in the German defenseS.
 Military security prevented dis closure of the method used to cross the river. but Cunningham said Burroughs took the decision on the spot and rushed an entire company over to the east bank.
 Word of the dramatic crossing flashed back to divisional headquar- ters and in a matter of hours powerful supporting units were rushing up to exploit the unex- pected breakthrough.
 Hell, If you have something giv- en to you the best thing is to take 1t" Burroughs said.
 Unguarded Bridge
 (Cunningham's dispatch hinted strongly that the Americans might have found a bridge unguarded, an almost incredible break that would permit the flow of the heaviest tanks, guns and equipment into the breach. Tt begins to look as though the entire course of the war in the west if being changed" he said.)
 (There was a possibility that the crossing was made on the 170-yard- long Ludendorf bridge, at Remagen a double-tracked iron railway span which latest available reports indi- cated had not been blown up by the retreating Germans)
 Other censored accounts from the breakthrough front said the Ger mans still had not been able py mid day today to muster enough ar- mored and infantry reserves to counter attack. United Press War Correspondent Ronald Clark re- ported that the bridgehead this morning was double it's initial size and expanding rapidly on all sides.
 At headquarters, correspondents were permitted only to say that the bridgehead had been pushed out tc point beyond the grange of the German army's light 77-millimeter artillery-a distance of 1000 yards or about four miles.
 Word of the breakthrough spread with electrifying effect through the ranks of the three American armies and the Canadian first army bat tering against the Rhine on ll0- mile front from Coblenz north to the Dutch border.
 It sent the four armies Smging forward with new power and fury all along the battle line and field dispatches indicated the few re- Inaining German pockets west of the Rhine were collapsing.
 Hundreds of wearied, dejected Germans surrendered without fight to the First Army forces on both sides of the Rhine crossing, and were permitted to wander back unguarded to l,rison enclosures deep inside the American lines.
 The spreading disintegration of the Nazi armies was pointed up by fact that the prisoners apparently were coming from a multitude of iumbled units all thrown in piece meal.
 A dozen miles north of Remagen,