The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-04-04
Patton sArmy
Is 100 Miles
From Soviiets
Other Third Army Units
Battling Inside Kassel

PARIS, Wednesday, April ~
U. S. Third Army tank
columns smashed into the out
skirts of Gotha yesterday in a 49,
mile sweep within 104 miles of
Berlin, while Canadian troops
were only 20 miles from closing
a trap on the bulk OF. 10000 Nazi
troops in western Holland.
Striking across wooded Thurin-
gia province, 1t. Gen. George S.
Patton's flying columns drove
within SIS miles of Czechoslovakia
and were three-fourths across the
waist of central Germany. His
men were reported within 160
miles Of the Russian lines-less
than the airline distance between
New York and Baltimore.
Sixty miles northeast Of Gotha,
other Third army units battled vi
olently deep inside the great ar
senal city of Kassel. which one
German broadcast said had fallen
in a mass of flaming ruins.
Fifty miles southwest of Gotha.
Third Army troops captured the
Catholic shrine city Of Fulda.
In the south, a monocled Ger
man major named Won Lambert.
surrendered Ashaffenburg after
publicly hanging two Of his offic-
ers who first had suggested that
he give up when the Americans
turned their big guns on the blast
ed city six days.
1t. Gen. Alexander M. Patch's
Seventh Army troops also fought
their way into Wuerzburg, swept
around that city. and were less
than 40 miles from Nuremberg,
Nazi convention city covering the
northern approaches to Munih.
Other units fought their way into
Hebron, an important conmun-
ications hub, and also reached
Bruchsal, only 10 miles from the
Rhine river stronghold of Karls-
ruhe.
In the north, 1t. Gen. Courtney
H. Hodges First Army beat down
Nazi brsak-out attempts from the
Ruhr pocket as Allied planes show
cred surrender leaflets on the
troops, estimated to number no.
900.
Gen. Eisenhower said the en-
circlement of the Ruhr was a
magnificent feat of arms that
would bring the war more rapid
ly to a close, and called on the
trapped Germans to surrender or
be annihilated.
U. S. Ninth Army forces oper-
ating northeast of the Ruhr burst
through the Teutoburger Valid,
billy forestad area, and raced
around both sides of Bielefeld with
in ITS miles Of Berlin. These
troops were closing up to the Wes-
err river, one of two major water
barriers before Berlin.
North of the Ninth Army, the
British drove into the great In
dustrial center of Osnabrueck on
the road to Bremen, and to the
west were striking beyond csptJr-
ed Nordhorn, so miles south Of
the German North Sea coast.
The Canadians on the left had
crossed the Twenthe canal be-
tween Zutphen and Hengelo, and
apparetly by nightfall had cut
the main Hannover-Holland rail-
way which is the major enemy es-
cape route out Of the area south
of the Zuider Zee. now only about
20 miles beyond the Canadians.
The Canadian British moves
threatened to seal off the big
Dutch cities of the Hague, Ans
terdam, Harlem and Rotterdam.
At Gotba. the famous Fourth
Armored Division had carried
within Is miles of the big Saxony
city of Leipzig and within &c miles
of Weimar, birthplace of the Ger
man republic. A dispatch from
Gen. Omar N. Bradley's 18th Ar
my Group headquarters said still
other Third Army troops were a
bare 100 miles from Russian siege
lines below Berlin.
The Germans said Third Army
troops were storming Suhl, So
miles from Czechoslovakia and SO
from the big Saxony city Of Leip-
zig, putting the Americans within
1853 miles Of Prague, Czechoslovak
capital.
The street fighting in the an
cient Hesse-Nassau capital of Kas-
sci, 1865 miles southwest of Ber-
lin, was the bitterest yet for Gen.
Patton's shock troops in Ger.
many. TIL enemy kept his air.
craft and tank plants working in
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