Show Artillery Batters J as 1 Armor Nears Hears City On Northern Front Nazis Nazis W Work af at Night T To Strengthen Def Defenses ses Against Ameri Americans ans L Lined ned Up for Cologne Drive Byr l James M iI Long t i PARIS Dec 7 AP- AP AP-Am AP American AP American rican tanks drove within th three ee and miles lulls of se seated seared red Thursday in a plunge ung to the theo outskirts of Forbach French rail town and outpost of the Siegfried line Artillery of the same Third army bombarded the thc little Pitts- Pitts bt burgh of ot th the coal and nd iron region for the eighth consecutive day while infantry was cleaning the Germans from the last Jut streets streets' of ot French b border bordertown o 0 rd er town lown southeast of ot the capi capi- tal Street fighting con continued fn In InS n S rn second city of the e aar The Americans extended th their grip on th the west bank of ot th the mul mul- tiple-crossed tiple riVer fiver to 22 miles On the static Roer river front the Cologne plain f for r the second successive night was bright with strings of German ground lights suggesting that the thc ene enemy y was working i intensively to prepare def defenses defenses de de- de- de f on the Edt river in anticipation anticipation anticipation antici antici- pation of a a forced withdrawal withdraw l from the swift and nd swollen Roer Hoer The Edt flows within eight miles of Cologne It is fe feet t twIde wide and paralleled by a canal Along the Roer the American First and Ninth armies Were were no closer than 22 miles mUes from the ravaged ravaged ray ray- aged metropolis on the Rhine N Nowhere Nowhere No No- where e had the Roer tie been en crossed but the G. G Ls L's were up tip p to it its banks bankson on a wide front In some places cast east of the Hoer Roer S Ninth a army y troops observed ved the Germans strengthening their po positions positions 0 under cover cr of l smoke ke All of Linnich west of ot the river was WM in American bands hands although a al l few snipers remained e Action flared Jared up again on the northern p t t of f th the r front Lt Gen Cen Courtney HHodges H. H Hodges Hodges' troops who Wh cleared Inden Inde several everal days ago go struck a mile and a half hal toward Pier about midway mIdway midway mid mId- way between the Roer river citadels citadels citadels cita cita- dels of Julich and Duren The Thc last bits of ot Lorraine and Alsace were slipping from German hands hand Already Lt Gen George Continued on Pate Pace Four Your Column Two r I y i if t J II 1 So Heil fiber Baal Ai Mr observation r tip lb r en ch I COLOGNE indicate indicate the nazis guarding Cologne are arc M ersch e Elsdorf preparing LULICH lich new de defenses i 2nd AA MY a F aloe along K the Edt k E Bien river shaded ARMY Korpon r p possibly in inan Mors ach uch r Butr an anticipation tiel pa tion I DUR N ruhl of a forced f q Lech nich h withdrawal Liblar from the hoer Boer river line Erp 0 GW On the hoer Roer er AACHEN oe s front heavy r Soller rJ line U. U S. S Hurt en 9 First army UM G a stin J patrols r reached ached A t Pier Thursday Eupen ee if in a th thrust o s 1 from Inden Helmbach tr STATUTE MILLS t Yank Artillery P Pounds as as- Tanks Drive to Within Four Miles of Rich City Continued from pare Page On On OD S. S pat Pattons Patton's on s 3rd army controls more of ot the rich Saat basin than the Germ Germans ns retain in the Karlsruhe corn corner r of of France Franco atthe at at the edge of ot the and Palatinate In Ina a wide advance to within 8 miles of the German Palatinate the the- Seventh army occupied St. St Louis Les Lea Bitche on high ground overlooking Lemberg The Tho Maginot Maginot Magi Magi- n not t. t fortress town of at Bitche lies three miles northeast of ot Lemberg emberg The Germans were manning the thelast thelast last 35 or 40 miles of ot the old Maginot Maginot Magi Magi- no not line fortifications in iri Inan an attempt attempt attempt at at- tempt to s stay y on the e soil of at France rance Strong naz nazi c counterattacks after heavy barrages drove the Americans Ameri Amerl- Americans cans from the northeast corner of r six miles northwest of Haguenau This was the first Seventh army setback in the Alsa Alsatian tian campaign Another counterattack counterattack counter counter- attack in battalion strength was repulsed five miles mUes farther north The Seventh took eight other villages northeast of ot Sarre Union in advances up p to tour four miles mUes Seventh army artillery inflicted severe losses oases on a German tank column moving southeast of Ha Ha- The Fourth armored di division dl- dl vision of the Third army destroyed 10 German tanks in the Mount- Mount brunn forest 22 miles southeast of S German guns from across the Rhine dropped shells into thes the s southeast edge of Strasbourg during during during dur dur- ing the night is the key to the whole defense of the and a crucial arsenal for the German German German Ger Ger- man army Its factories still worked as the cacophony of battle increased The hitting hard-hitting 3rd army was expanding its three bridgeheads over the which flows Just west of the Siegfried line defenses Texans of the division which w won n the latest bridgehead head two miles north of fought in the streets of ot in the frowning hills that rise steeply from the banks banks' of the river navigable navigable navi navi- gab gable e all the 75 miles mUes from the theMos theMos Mos Moselle lle t to Sarreguemines where it h has sa a connection with th the Rhine Rhine- Marne canal With virtually all aJI Sarreguemines cleared leare the Germans fled northward northward northward north north- ward toward the in a gantlet t. t of artillery ry fire They blew five bridges behind them In the open between I Ithe the Eifel mountains and the tho Ha Ham forest opposite forest opposite t the e Palatinate Palatinate Palati Palati- nate the Germans stiffened They held out doggedly in Hagenau to protect ammunition and fuel dumps Lt Gen Omar N N. Bradley commander commander commander com com- mander of the army group of the 1st 1st 3rd and armies declared de de- Glared dared that nearly square miles of been conquered in inthe inthe inthe the current offensive which started a month ago Friday with Pattons Patton's first toward Metz Bradley's Bradleys Bradleys Bradley's Bradleys Bradley's Brad- Brad leys ley's front now V is curving miles long inside Germany His army group has captured more than prisoners since landings in Normandy six months ago ago of them in the current campaign he said In the army sector north of Linnich the Americans we were e building build build- ing up assault forces forces' along the west bank of the Roer under steady German ar artillery an and mortar fire Heavy vy enemy traffic was reported moving b both th ways on the nazi side of ot the river suggesting som something thing more than a normal of ot supplies or wit withdrawal of of mauled division n. n iii lr lr |