Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-03-02
Western Front
Continued From First Page

east of the fallen textile and irol
cities of Muenchen Gladbach ant
Rheydt was enveloped swiftly. Be
tween them, these two cities had
population swollen by the war t.
1000, many of them bombed-ou
refugees from Dusseldorf
A field officer of Gen. Macon's 83t
Division, described the chase of tn
Germans as rat race" The Ca
nadians to the north hold A mile
or more of the west banks of tn,
lower Rhine. On the rivers uppe,
reaches, the French LIST Army stand
on about 100 miles of its banks from
the Alps to north of Strasbourg.
With new divisions announced IL
the 9th Army, its total weight wa
seven infantry and three tank divi
sions of perhaps 10000 fighting
men. These were the End, 5th ant
9th Armored Divisions and the 29th
Both, 35th. 18th, 83d, 84th and 1925
Infantry Divisions.
| Divisions Identified.
Three attack divisions have beer
named in the 1st Army drive and 6
dozen in the Sd Army's central at.
tacks. Canadians on the north pos.
| sibly are using three Canadian anc
nine British divisions.
Among the towns captured by the
9th Army were Duelken,. miles
northwest of Muenchen Gladbach
and Bosheim. Vierson fell ano
Ambruck was reached.
Roermond, Dutch fortress town
where the Roer flows into the
Mouse, was bypassed and hopelessly
outfanked, if not captured. Patrols
entered Roermond last night and
found it empty.
In all. 81 towns were taken yes
terday. The extreme l5-mile ad-
vance was made by the hard-hitting
35th Division into Venlo. British
End Army lines were west of Venlo
and between that town and the
Canadian LIST Army. All Germans
still between the left flank of the
9th Army and the British were
trapped.
Associated Press Correspondent
Yves Gallagher with the 9th Army
said
1T might be only a matter of
hours before the fate of Field Mar
shall Won Rundstedt's forces north
of Cologne IS sealed"
Is Miles From Bonn.
In the Cologne area, the LIST Army
was within is miles of. the Rhine
city of Bonn. at the edge of zuel-
plch and miles from the important
traffic center of Euskirchen
This was the position of the 9th
Army as disclosed in the brief lift
ing of the news blackout:
The 83d Infantry Division was
standing watch on the Rhine at
Dusseldorf. Yesterday it captured
Rheydt, birthplace of Nazi Propa-
ganda Minister Paul Joseph Gosh
bels.
The 18th Infantry Division was
patrolling Muenchen Gladbach.
The I'd Armored Division had
raced 8 miles northward into Kre-
field near which an important SUI
perhighway bridge spans the Rhine
The 102d Infantry Division gained
5 miles in capturing Viersen and
drove on to Amburch.
The 5th Armored Division drove
7 miles to the vicinity of Anrath.
Other Towns Captured.
The 84th Division captured Duel
ken and rolled or miles east
ward to take Bolsheim
The 9th Armored Division adj
vanced miles in close conjunction
with a 15-mile sweep which carried
the 35th Infantry Division into
Venlo, entered last night and cap
tured at dawn.
Clear skies appeared at dawn for
the first time in week, promising
the Germans frightful aerial tor
ture in their dangerously restricted
area west of the Rhine ,250-1 500
feet wide at Bonn: 1901, 700 feet
wide at Cologne and LAO feet wide
at Dusseldorf.
The twin cities of Muenchen
Gladbach and Rheydt. which spread
over Is square miles. were the first
important places the Germans have
yielded without anything like a
fight. Only five American casualties
were suffered there in the 29th Di-
vision assault.
There were increasing indications
that the Germans realized Cologne
was doomed.
All the crushing blows to Ger
many's last hopes of standing west
of the Rhine did not fall in the
north, however
Trier, founded in IA BIC. by the
Roman Emperor Augustus, fell after
the 10th Armored. Division of the
American Sd Army hurled additional
men and machines into the city
Tanks streamed across the Moselle
on the South Bridge. which was
captured intact The North Bridge
was damaged
ButZweiler, where one of West.
ern Germany's largest fortresses i!
located just north of Trier, wa.
captured. The city was surrounded
to the east of the Moselle and tn,
18th Infantry Division was driving
down from the northwest only
miles from the stream En- routa
the infantrymen captured Kerscf
and Newell in Smile gains.
| Cleaning out the area between
the Kyll and Minis Rivers, the 4tl
Armored Division captured Setter
WEIGH and Malbergweich, 6 mile
north of Bitburg. Cavalry enteret
Plutscheid. The 9th Armored Divi
sion captured Matzerath and tn,
4th Infantry Division entered Willie
rath, 50 miles west of Coblenz an,
just northeast of Pruem
Sales Coin Reported
by Department Stores
| BY the Associated Press.