The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-04-03
Ninth Nears
.Weser; New
Trap Forged
$4,000 German. Captur-
ed In March; Foe
Falling Apart AZ

PARIS, Tuesday, April 3 IN
American troops again crushed
German attempts yesterday to
break out of the Ruhr, where no.
900 Nazis are trapped, as Britisa
and Canadian forces to the north
smashed IS miles inside Holland
and sped within 68 miles Of the
German North Sea coast, threat
ening to seal off another huge en-
eny group in the western Neither
lands.
In the race toward Berlin, swift
U. S. Ninth Army columns striking
far beyond the cncircled Ruhr near
the Pied Piper town of Hamelin.
1856 miles from Berlin.
A dispatch from Gen. Omar N.
Bradley's 18th Army Group head
quarters said a total of 100000
Germans had been captured in
March, 10000 of them by the
Third Army and 10000 by the
First Army, whose troops yestsr-
day smashed Nazi break-out at
tempts and counterattacks In the
Winterberg and Warburg areas.
The dispatch, added: 1.-The Ger
man situation in the West is fall
ing apart so badly that the possi-
bility OF an attempt to transfer
some divisions from the East isn't
excluded, despite the sorry Ger
man situation in the East"
Forward elements of the sprint
ing Ninth Army were moving un-
der a security blackout in the at
tack toward Berlin, and along the
center CT the front the U. S. Third
Army reached the Vera river OIL
broad front and crossed that
stream near Eisenach, 1855 miles
southwest Of Berlinand 80 miles
from Leipzig.
The Third Army now was more
than halfway across the waist OF
Germany, racing toward the
Czechoslovakian frontier about 20
miles away, in an effort to split
the Reich and prevent German
troops from retreating into the Ba-
varian Alps. Other Third Army
units made a new crossing OF the
Fulda river in this eastward sweep.
The American Seventh Army far
ned out in sizeable advances to the
north, east and west, and the ada
cent French First Army at the
southern end of the front captured
60 localities in 48 hours, took many
prisoners, and widened its BRIDGE
head across the Rhine near Karl
sruhe to Is miles.
There still was no indication Of
the location and role OF the new
American 18th Army which was
disclosed two days ago to be in
action. It is believed it might be
engaged in holding operation.
Lifting five day security black
out on the British Second and
Canadian First Armies, the Allies
disclosed last night that the Cana
dams. attacking in the area be-
tween Eromerich and Nijmegen
on both sides of the Dutch Rhine,
had pushed forward and reached
the Enschede-Zutphen canal.
The canal is only Is miles from
the Zuider Zee. Once the Allies
reach that coast they will have BIZ
sected all enemy forces in Holland.
Along the Ruhr's northern ring
the 10Th and 35th Infantry Divi-
sions captured the industrial city
Of Recklinghausen, cleared the Die
hard forest south of Haltern an
pushed east and captured Suder-
wich and Berhagen.
On the right flank of the Cana
dams, the British, advancing %
miles through Ilattened towns and
splintered forests, captured En-
schede in Holland, occupied the
communications hub of Rhsine,
and plunged close to Osnabrueck,
big industrial city IS miles from
Bremen.
Thousands OF Germans were re-
ported fleeing from Holland in an
effort to avoid the double moose
that the British and Canadians
were fashioning. AS the Allied
troops closed in on the V-bomb
rocket installations, rocket FIRE
on Britain already had subsidized
noticeably.
Marshal Montgomery's troops
also entered Muenster, Wesphalian
capital, along with U. S. forces,
but armored vanguards already
had sped around that bastion and
raced within IL miles Of Osna-
brueck, biggest prize yet to come
within the grasp Of the British
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