The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-03-26
4O-Mile Stab Beyond
 Rhine Collapses Foe
(NEA Telephoto)
(Continued from Page D


 barrier in the west.
 In great bid for one of the most decisive victories of the war the four armies were swightly out hanking the industrial Ruhr basin and sweeping up thousands of de- moralized, badly beaten German captives.
 More than 10000 Nazi prisoners already had been taken since Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery sent the four armies of his 21st Army group sto<Ining across the Rhine Friday night, and field dis patches said the toll was mounting hourly.
 Almost 60 hours after the start of Montgomery's "win- -the-war" of- fensive, the Germans had failed to throw in a single major counter attack. Elements of one Panzer Grenadiier division were reported in action on the British-held north ern flank and another tank division was reported moving into the threatened area under heavy aerial attack, but the rest of the enemy's reserves appeared to have been inn mobilized.
 Hundreds of American and Allied warplanes thundered out over the battlefield at first light this morn- ing to carry the slaughter of the Wehrmacht,s mobile forces into its fourth straight day, stokirg hun- dreds of fires already burning over 8 10000 square mile area of the Ruhr and Westphalian plain. American Ninth Army troops at- tacking along the southern flank of Montgomery's assault line were re- ported advancing almost at will through completely-shattered Ger man defenses. Vanguards of the 30th "Old Hickory" Division cap- tured Huenxe, seven miles beyond the Rhine on the Lippe river. The Tanks crossed the Lippe and pushed on another three miles with in about six miles of Dorsten and about 12 miles northwest of Essen, Germany's greatest arsenal city. Decentralization and panic were reported spreading like a brush fire through the ranks of the Ger man armies east of the Rhine un- der the crushing Allied ground and air assaults.
 The entire west bank of the Rhine from Switzerland to Holland was reported officially to have been cleared of all but few isolated pockets in the Karlsruhe corner Those Nazi remnants were being mopped up rapidly by the U. S. Seventh Army moving up on the right flank of Patton's Third Army
 At least 5000 Germans had been captured on both sides of the Rhine since March l, and the ability of re- maining enemy forces to hold their thin lines west of Berlin was be- coming questionable.
 Staff officers of the Americar Ninth Army asserted that German resistance already had begun to dis integrate along the vital northern flank of the Ruhr.
 l OlllUCN w p4 SOA CokSO4ASASA4N c. R. Cunningham reported that the Germans in the path of the Ninth Army apparently were not fighting Hundreds of NaZis were surrendering at the sight of the advancing Tanks, abandoning for midable gun positions and pillboxes without a struggle.
 At least 20 enemy towns and vil- lageS were taken yesterday and early today by the four Allied armies on the Westphalian plain bordering the Ruhr. Returning flyers reported that the entire plain for more than 40 miles beyond the Rhine was g read, snoldering wasteland, dotted at intervals with columns of German refugees fleeing eastward in interror
 Muenster itself, 40 miles beyond the most advanced Allied columns was said to be in flames and there were few signs of enemy troop move ments between that city and the Rhine.
 Dinla ken, Gotterswickerhamm Moellen, Lippedorf, Lohnen, Vordt and Letkampshof, two to six miles east of the Rhine, were taken by the Ninth army in its advance from winding 15-mile stretch of the rivel bank southeast of Wesel.
 The American drive carried be. yond the Wesel-Sterkade railway embankment, where the Germani tried briefly to halt the onrushinl yanks. One Nazis officer attempted to rally his exhausted troops for { stubborn stand in Gotterswicker. hamm, but they were blasted quick dly into submission by combina tion of Allied planes and American tanks.
 At least two pontoon bridges wer operating over the Rhine near Wesel feeding steady flow of heavy guns ] tanks and troops into the British