The Wilmington morning star., 1945-03-20
Doonls
Own Men In
Span Blasts
American Planes Rain Hail
OF Death Into Ranks :.
OF Germans j

Three rampag ing U. S. tank divi-
sions of the U. S. Third Army,
racing up to Is miles through the
topping Saarlano, thrust within
IA miles of Kaiserslautern yester-
day in a bid to crush 10000 en-
envy troops in a giant wise and
paralyze any attemted German
stand east of the Rhine.
Many Of these badly-needed Ger
man troos were doomed when the
enemy blew two Rhine bridges at
Mainz, IL miles in front OF yet an
other armored division, the U. S.
Fourth, which set the stage for
the Nazi debacle with break
through along the Rhineland plain.
Two thousand more Germans
were trapped in the western Saar,
and hundreds of others were driven
to their death in a rain Of steel
from thousands of U. S. warplanes
failing every avenue OF retreat.
Guns and tanks were abandoned
and scattered along the line OF
flight.
Already driven more than half
the Saarland and Palatinate-
their last holdings west OF the
Rhine-and routed from their final
foothold in northeastern France
by the U. S. Seventh Army, the
Germans were faced with even
greater peril to their Wanted
Rhine line farther north.
The U. S. First Army east OF
the Rhine struck northWard more
than two miles, reached the plains
leading to the Ruhr at two points,
and enlarged its bridgehead to IL
miles wide and eight miles deep.
Opposite the Ruhr itself, the U.
S. Ninth Army cleared the way
for a possible Rhine crossing by
ordering German civilians evacu-
ated from the west bank cities
of Uerdingen, Homber, Ossenberg,
Orsoy and Rheinhausen.
With fighting manpower more
needed at home, the Ger
man high command was report
ed giving up long-held positions
in Hollond north of Nijmegen be-
tween the Wall Rhine and Neder
Rhine. Allied patrols reached the
Neder Rhine and saw few Ger
mans in their path.
The U. S. Seventh Army was IA
miles from a junction with the
Third Army in the heart Of the
Saar Basin after breaking clear
through the Siegfried Line east Of
Saarbruecken. Such juncture
would seal off Saarbruecken, the
capital, and most of the basins
steel mills.
AS the Seventh Army moved
into Germany on a 60-mile front,
the French Fifth Armored Divi-
sion on the east flank invaded Ger
many near the Rhine and captur-
ed Scheibenhard, 10 miles west of
another enemy escape hatch at
Karlsruhe. This was the first time
French units had invaded Ger
many since their homeland fell
to the Germans in 1910.
American troops few miles to
the northwest fought three miles
into Germany north Of captured
Wissembourg, and battled Ger
man tanks in Ober Otterbach.
1t. Gen. George S. Patton's Fly
ing columns, engulfing 30 more
towns, were bringing blitzkrieg
warfare home with a vegeance to
the country which gave it birth.
The Third was travelling on the
treads of enough fast-rolling tanks
to fill seven comlete armored
while overhead fighter
bombers were pouring bombs, bull,
lets and rockets on the enemy.
The Fourth Armored Division,
capturing Bad Krueznach, raced
eight miles east of the shattered
Maize river line toward Mainz.
Kaiserslautern, a traffic city Of
81 900 through which passes nearly
all roads to the Rhine, was in the
path of the Tenth, Eleventh and 4
new and as yet unidentified Ar.
mored Division.
Swinging eastward and SOUTH
eastward almost shoulder to Shout
der, these hard-hitting outfits all
were about IA miles west or north.
vest of the city.
Z The 18th Armored Division cross
ed the Maize river in IS mile ad-
vance, and linked up with the I'M
identified armored division in tho
of Merzweiler, IA miles
of Kaiserslautern.
Continued on Page Two; Col p