World Battlefronts, WESTERN FRONT: To the Rhine?

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Feeble Defense. On the third day, Düren (peacetime pop. 37,000) was in Yank hands. It was the second largest German town to fall in the west. * By then, vehicular bridges spanned the Roer, and supplies, guns, armor and troop reinforcements were flowing steadily across. The Ninth captured Steinstrass, 18 miles from Cologne, which had been a refitting center for German armor. The 84th and 102nd Infantry Divisions captured some enemy 88s with ammunition intact. In a night attack on Merzenich, the First Army took prisoners in their sleeping clothes.

The Nazi defense seemed feeble. Not until 19 hours after the first U.S. crossings did the Germans counterattack anywhere. Then they put on six attacks against the Ninth, of which the heaviest a thrust by 30 or 40 tanks supported by self-propelled guns was beaten off at Boslar. The German prisoners were a mixture: good soldiers in their 205, boys of 15 and 16, railroad battalions, Volksstürmer, air force ground personnel. On the whole, they were far from first-rate troops.

In two days, the Yanks took 4,000 prisoners. On the fourth day, they were within 10 miles of Cologne and had it under artillery fire. The rate of advance was much better than in last November's offensive on this sector, and U.S. casualties were pronounced lighter than expected.

Rundstedt's Move. In the south, General Patton's Third Army was hurling savage diversionary attacks between Bitburg and Prum, and against Trier in the Moselle Valley. General Patch's Seventh Army was attacking Forbach and Saarbrücken. In the north, General Crerar's First Canadian Army had taken Goch, and was throwing in an armored attack behind a five-hour artillery barrage. Between Crerar and Simpson, the British Second Army was waiting to jump off. Field Marshal von Rundstedt could hardly afford to weaken any of these sectors to strengthen the Cologne plain.

He might try for a stand on the little Erft River, which is less of an obstacle than the Roer, but which splits into several troublesome branches in front of Cologne (see map). He had shown how he could fight with substandard troops on river lines, in woods, and in his fearful maze of Rhineland fortificationsand what he had shown was very good. But there comes a point at which skill and tricks are swamped by power.

* The biggest was Aachen (160,000).