| Show f. f Great Allied Armies Leap Forward In n Giant lant Drive on on Reich elC ld 9 MILE Argancy Ang r y S Solid o 1 arrows arrows' I locate American Olgy drives on Metz including the la M axe capture of f 1 J Woippy Dippy north FT KELLERMAN of the city 4 4 Servigny FT Woippy Open arrows tI k indicate Mey Plappeville German v FT GERARDIN counterattacks j which recaptured recaptured recap recap- essy o Bor Bohr n flY y Peltre ME TZ southeast of Jussy ii Metz and Vaux advanced west 1 any FT MARl VAL of the fortress FT ST ST. PRIVA T FT guarded city j f- f Orly E Many Shaded line is Aug fly I approximate HOSPITAL ST BLAISE battle front ff r. y Associated ur LYSER I I fress Map Mop I Aerial Blows Help Clear New Nel Paths Mystery Force Which Seized Brest Attacks With Aachen Conquerors B By William illiam Frye Irye LONDON Nov 16 UP The lP-The The The American First and Ninth armies paced by a a plane 1700 bombardment of German defenses northeast of Aachen launched a massive offensive into the Rhineland Thursday Lt Gen Courtney H H. Hodges' Hodges First army veterans sprang forward forward forward for for- ward at 11 o'clock as 1200 heavy bombers crashed their bombs on the Duren arc from four lour to six miles ahead of the doughboy lines Jines cast east and so southeast of A Aachen chen An hour and 45 minutes later the United States Ninth army whose whereabouts had been a a. secret two months plunged into a v ne assault on the German homeland defenses near the Dutch frontier and the entire mile allied front from the marshy lowlands lowlands lowlands low low- lands of Holland to the Alps of Switzerland was in motion This may be Gen Dwight D. D Eisenhower's out all-out winter offen often sire she sheAt At least six great allied armies were on the march Lt Gen William Villiam Texas Bill Bm Simpsons Simpson's Nin Ninth h army popped up at the German front door door- after being transferred miles mUes across France Belgium and Holland into Germany and moved d across cross ih th th lines Jines of of several other armies Apparently it was attacking north of the United States First army's Aachen sector where it would be in position to implement the standing long threat to sweep away the Germ German n north flank After a week of waiting for clear weather the Flying Fortresses and and Liberators with nearly fighters bumped the Germans with tons of bombs ahead of th the First army in a tactical assault similar to that which preceded the St. St Lo through break-through i in itt Normandy last July 25 and the offensive by Lt Gen George S. S Patterns Pattern's Third army in the Metz sector eight days ago Fragmentation bombs fell tell on a mile 15 stretch of the Cologne highway between Eschweiler and Duren ahead of the First army veterans of the St. St Lo break break- through Antiaircraft positions gun batteries and other German defenses were showered The Americans have been holding holding holding hold hold- ing positions in Stolberg about four miles southwest of Eschweiler Eschwei Eschwei- ler and in in- Hurtgen forest about about- six miles southwest of Duren line Front-line d dispatches is pat c h e s said Hodges had been withholding his his' attack for a in order t to have hav good bombing weather to accompany pany his artillery barrage and infantry assault Rain sleet and snow the gr ground und mush mushy Gen Eisenhower's other armies which had joined the assault one b by one forged forged- forged ahead ahead on the flam ing front The British Second army plunged to within a mile of the Maas l in Continued on Pace Fae Eight Column Six Sue Six Allied Armies Drive on Reich Continues Continued from Page One Holland and captured Horn only two miles mUes from the German bastion bastion bastion bas bas- tion of ot Roermond 3 34 miles mites west of Dusseldorf on the Rhine I French Push Forward The First French army which joined the array of offensives only Wednesday pushed forward on a mile 25 front on both sides of the Doubs river to a point 11 miles mites southwest of at Belfort in the gap just north of at Switzerland Gen Pattons Patton's s 's Third army tightened tightened tight tight- ened its grip on Metz from the north and also alBo captured Morhange Lt Gen Sir Miles C. C Dempsey's British forces riding in thick thick- skinned converted armored vehicles vehicles vehicles ve ve- reached the town of at Haelen only a mile from the Maas in a three-mile three advance and seized Roggel little over a mile from Crom the Zig canal north of oC Roermond A sudden break north of Metz old Roman fortress which never has been taken by storm in modern modem modern mod mod- ern em tim times brought U U. S. S Third army troops in their old eight offensive to within a n. mile and a half of at the northern outskirts atthe of at the city although the Americans to the southeast and west gave ground slightly l losing sing one fort and a village Posh Push Mlle Mile Ahead North of Metz neat near the Luxembourg Luxembourg Luxembourg Luxem Luxem- bourg border the Americans astride the Maginot line pushed forward another mile near Ewen- Ewen don dorf only four miles from the German Gennan frontier Below Metz the Seventh army took Ste. Ste Pole 42 miles from Strasbourg Strasbourg Strasbourg bourg the closest the allies have yet come to that key crossing of the Rhine Gen Pattons Patton's Third army southeast southeast southeast south south- east of Metz captured a mile beyond Morhange where doughboys were last reported in possession of at two-thirds two of at the town and clung to high ground inthe In Inthe inthe the forest of Bride and overlooking Dieuze and practically denying that road center to the Germans Gennan Pattons Patton's men were fighting lighting off offa a series of small counterattacks counterattack One such counterattack was just outside Bourgaltroff at the tip of the wedge between Morhange and Dieuze Here the Fourth armored armored armored ar ar- mored divisions division's tanks knocked out at least two tanks in a battle and then withdrew into the Bride and wood Admit C Capture The German radio said the thc Americans had captured all of Morhange as well as four tour villages north of it In southeastern Holland Field Marshal l Sir Bernard L L. L Montgomery's Montgomery's I erys ery's northern armies approached to within three miles of the Maas Mans Meuse river in the Roermond area in two-day two gains gai of seven or eight miles 1 The French First army anny o openIng opening open open- ning n- n Ing up a heavy new attack under undera a strong artillery barrage Wednesday Wednesday Wednes Wednes- day at dawn smashed forward four or five miles on the approaches to the Belfort gap gateway into southwestern Germany Advancing Advancing Advancing ing on a mile 25 front on both sides of the Doubs Daubs river the French occupied at least 10 JO vil vil- lages One of them was Arcey 11 miles southwest of the village pi pf Belfort A field dispatch said heavy German German German Ger Ger- man counterattacks prevented further American advances from the south and west toward Metz Although the Fifth division held tight about a mile and a half south couth of ot the fortress city the Germans recaptured Peltre two and a half halt miles southeast Although resistance was stiffening stiffening stiffen stiffen- stiffening ing before Metz the German Gennan radio was busy discounting the citadels citadel's importance in comments broadcast broadcast broad broad- cast cat to German listeners a procedure procedure procedure pro pro- suggesting Berlin might be expecting the tho city's fall Counterattacks were launched by the enemy in the Landorf area on the right flank of the Third army front in Lorraine but they were thrown back by the Americans who pressed their lines Iines forward rd |
