The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-03-06
Cologne Battle
 In Final Hours
(Continued from Page D

harrelled down to roof-tip level fl search of German strongpoints re ported that Cologne appeared to b a dead city this morning. Ther was no sign of life in the centra streets and the central span of tn huge Hohenzol1ern bridge was be lieved to have been knocked out. AS the Americans closed in t clinch their biggest triumph of tn l2-day -old offensive, other Firs Army forces 10 the north wer teaming up with the Americal Ninth and Canadian first armie to write off the remnants of thre German field armies on the yves bank of the Rhine.
 Naxis DisOrganized
 Units of the First Army wer, mopping up disorganized Nazi pock cts along the Rhine bank between Cologne and the Dusseldorf eros sings 20 miles to the north.
 Twenty to 30 miles beyond Dues seldorf, the U. s. Ninth and th' Canadian first were crushing tht last major German bridgehead wes' of the Rhine. There the German! still were struggling desperately tt extricate the survivors of thei first paratroop army through z narrowing bottleneck centeree around the Wesel road and railway bridges.
 The Canadians on the north ano the Tanks on the south and weSI squeezed in the sides of the Wesel passage to less than ten miles ano opened murderous barrage on the troop-choked bridges.
 Both Wesel bridges were badly cratered by bomb and shell hits and field dispatches indicated the Nazis were abandoning the bulk of theil armor and heavy equipment west of the river.
 The Il other Rhine bridges south ward to Dusseldorf were known or authoritatively reported to have been wrecked by the fleeing enemy and only three of the eight ferry crossings in the area were still operating last night. All three were believed within range of American guns this morning, meaning that thousands more would be added shortly to the list of almost 100000 Germans killed, wounded or cap tured in the present offensive.
 The spotlight of the Rhineland battle centered on Cologne, where the First Army was clearing great springboard for the decisive thrust across the Rhine into the industrial heart of the Reich.
 Doughboys of the l04th Timber wolf division captured the west ern suburbs of Mungersdorf and Junkersdorf late yesterday and pushed forward street by street to the edge of the old walled city where the Germans must make their last stand, if at all.
 Vanguards of the Eighth Infan- try Division wedged into the city from the southwest, clearing the suburban districts of Sielsdorf, Gleuel, Burbach and Efferen in their path.
 From the north, the third armored Division sent its tanks and armored troop carriers rumbling through the streets of the Bocklemuend and Bickendorf suburbs. Still another Third armored column almost two miles farther east was pushing in to the old city wall within about a mile of the Rhine after taking Longerich.
 Opposition Feeble
 First accounts of the fighting in- dicated the Nazis still were putting up only feeble rear guard opposi- tion to the advancing American columns. United Press War Cor respondents who entered the city with the three Yank Divisions re- ported that scattered rifle and ma chine fun fire met the first assault waves.
 Then hundreds of white flags be- gan fluttering from windows and balconies and long lines of civilians, interspersed by small German troop units, poured into the streets to surrender to the Americans.
 American officers believed only a few thousand German rear guards at most were left in the inner fort ress centered about the ancient cathedral, whose towering gothic spires could still be seen through the battle smoke.
 With their bridges blown behind them and overwhelming American power streaming into the streets before them, it was questionable whether even these tough covering forces would stand and die in a hopeless defense of Germany's fourth city
 German flag guns and artillery on the east bank of the Rhine alreaN were smelling the American-helS { sections of Cologne and from the walled city could be heard the in- termittent blast of Nazi demolitions.
 Prisoners taken by the advancing Tanks reported that 85 per cent of the central part of Cologne was in ruins. although the residential and industrial outskirts were not heav- fly damaged. These captives assert- ed that only about one in ten of Col ogne's pre-war population of 786.- 600 remained in the city.
 South and southwest of Cologne. other First Army divisions were driving in giant strides on the Rhine city of Bonn to win another jump off point for the assault on the river barrier.
 Doughboys of the Ninth Infantry Division captured Schwarzmaar ana entered the adjoining village of Mueggenhausen. eight miles west of Bonn, and beat off still coun- ter-attack by 200 tank-Supported German troops.