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Show however, have been carrying on a far-flung offnsive, driving to the Baltic and greatly widening the front east of Berlin. The Red army, ar-my, it appears, is well-led. It gives evidence of patience, slowly wiping wip-ing out by-passed strongpointa and removing menaces on the flank before continuing the central advance. ad-vance. In Italy there has been no indication indi-cation that the Germans plan to withdraw their forces, which some experts estimate to be equal to half the number of Germans fighting fight-ing on the Western front. Fighting Fight-ing in the Italian campaign has been tough and the men under Gen. Clark are not getting the credit that they are due for keeping keep-ing up their stern pressure upon the Nazis. In the air the rain of bombs upon Germany seems to reach new highs, with the size of individual bombs and the total bombload setting new records. The destruction destruc-tion witnessed in abandoned Cologne Co-logne proves that the air force is seriously injuring th enemy. In fact, some observers believe that the damaging blows from the air had much to do with the decision of the Nazis to leave the city. I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 1 1 . Ii 1 1 I I: I III FORWARD MARCH By H. S. Sims, Jr. FAILURE OF NAZIS TO ERASE RHINE BRIDGEHEAD SHOWS WEAKNESS AERIAL BLOWS INCREASE The course of the war against Germany moves etremely satisfactorily satisfac-torily to the military leaders of the United Nations who calmly move their armies to prepare the way for increasing pressure upon the reeling foe. The bridgehead across the Rhine and the Russian crossing of the Oder open up new opportunities opportuni-ties but they cannot be utilized in I a day or a week. It takes time to crush an army as well-trained and as fanatical as the Germans and precipitate advances might permit per-mit the foe to launch a temporary success. Basic Balance Changes Slowly . . . It is not easy for a review of Germans Face Utter Desolation ... The enemy cannot avoid the fate that awaits large cities and other necessary facilities. Thousands Thou-sands of planes fly daily to the objectives, meeting: little effective oppositon, deposit their bombloads and then move to another target, n the course of months the destruction de-struction is terrific and it cannot escape Nazis eyes. The German people know, by this time, that it must be surrender or total destruction, de-struction, even if Allied armies do not march through Germany. We cannot attempt in this col- the war to satisfy the eagerness of readers for something positive as to the exact state of enemy resistance re-sistance and the progress of Allied plans. News available on this side of the Atlantic is not adequate for predictions and while the scene of the battle advances into Germany the basic balance of the war does not change much from week to week. The capture of the bridgehead across the Rhine" was somewhat unepected but it happened because our soldiers, in their advances, are alert, brave and resourceful. In most instances the retiring Germans Ger-mans succeeded in blowing up all umn to report the geographical advances that mark the disintegration disinteg-ration of Germany as a nation able to support an effective military mili-tary force. The places change from week to week but the great objective objec-tive remains the same the destruction de-struction of the German armies. The bombs that cripple transpor-cotion, transpor-cotion, blast factories and burn plants gradually eliminate the bridges but at Remagen they failed fail-ed and because American soldiers were n the job the failure resulted in disaster. German Reaction Ineffective . . . The situation can be judged somewhat by the slowness of the German army to react. Certainly, if ever an army had occasion to launch a prompt counter-attack for the purpose of ousting an adversary ad-versary the German army was under un-der compulsion when the First army took over the bridge and began be-gan pouring men and supplies east of the Rhine. The failure of the enemy to make a major attempt to throw us back to the western side of the great river indicates a lack of re-srves re-srves or strong fear of other crossings cross-ings of the river. While aerial assaults as-saults could, and probably did, seal off the area imediately contiguous to the bridgehead, the Nazis, If possessed of ample reserves, could have made epansion of, the foothold foot-hold difficult. Italian Campaign Overlooked . . . It is worth noting that news of the fighting on the eastern front, and in Italy, has been overshadowed overshad-owed by the emphasis given to the Anglo-American lunge to and across the Rhine. The Russians, i support without which an army cannot fight. Cities and rivers have no meaning mean-ing in the defense of a nation. They are as strong and no stronger, strong-er, than the armed forces available. avail-able. The reader should not be misled mis-led by press dispatches, or radio pronouncements, that capture of this or that city removes the last barrier to some other strategic objective. ob-jective. It isn't the truth. Only the defeat of the German armies, defending vital areas, will remove the last barrier and it is encouraging encour-aging to say, on the basis of recent re-cent war news, that the Nazis will not be able to stand much repetition repeti-tion of the heavy blows inflicted upon their fighting forces in the past two months. |