Novemer 16, 1944; EISENHOWER'S WINTER OFFENSIVE BEGINS:

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1944:

RACINE, WIS., THURSDAY AFTERNOON, NOVEMBER 16, 1944.

Push May be

Eisenhower's

Big Offensive

LONDON. —(/P) —

American First and Ninth armies, paced- by a 1,700-plane bombardment of German defenses northeast of Aachen, launched a massive offensive into the Rhineland today. Lt. Gen. Courtney Hodges First army veterans sprang forward at 11 o’clock as 1,200 heavy bombers cradled their bombs on the Duren Eschweiler are from four to ; six miles ahead of t h e doughboy lines east and southeast of Aachen.

An hour and 45 m i n u t e s later the-U. S. Ninth army  whose whereabouts had been a secret two months, plunged, into an all out  assault on the German homeland defenses near the Dutch frontier, and the entire 400-mile Allied front from the marshy lowlands of Holland to the Alps of Switzerland was in motion.

This m a y b e Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s all-out winter offensive.

6 Armies on March.

At least six great Allied armies were on the march. Lt. Gen. William (Texas Bill) Simpson's Ninth army popped up at the German front door after being transferred 800 miles across France, Belgium and Holland in to Germany and moved across the lines  of communication of several other armies.

Apparently it was attacking north of the U. S. First army's Aachen sector, where it would be in position to implement the longstanding threat to sweep away the German north flank.

American Vise

Closes Tighter

On Leyte Trap

By C. YATES McDANIEL

GENERAL MAC ARTHUR'S

HEADQUARTERS, Philippines —(AP)—

An American vise closed tighter on General Yamashita's encircled Japanese on Leyte today, pressing to within 10 miles of Ormoc on the "south, 14 on the east and about the same distance on the north. Advances by four American divisions were small, but they came all around t h e Japanese perimeter defending Ormoc, their last base on t h e island. In the north, the American 24^th division applied double pressure.

On the road from Pinamapoan the main body of the division lunged against enemy positions near Limon, gateway to the Ormoc corridor. West of t h e road another unit of the division swung around through the hills, virtually cut the road behind an estimated 2,000 Japanrse front line troops.

Hilltops Seized.

To the east and north, pressure was applied by the first cavalry division, which over-ran several enemy strong points and seized hilltops as it moved westward through the tangled peaks. No road served this division; and its forward elements probed the roughest terrain to find the stubborn Japanese defense positions.

Mt. Mamban, a 3,830-foot peak, and hill 4047 and 4018 fell to the cavalry.

Chinese Troops

Fall Back Before

Japs in Kwangsi

CHUNGKING — (U.P.)

 Chinese troops were reported falling back slowly before reinforced Japanese columns fanning out to the west, north and south through central Kwangsi province today, but there was no confirmation of a Tokyo claim that Ishan, former site of an American air station, had been been captured.

A communique said hard fighting was in progress late yesterday at a point four miles northeast of Ishan, 44 miles west-northwest of captured Liuchow. Radio Tokyo said Japanese troops completed th e occupation of the walled city and its airfield last night.

The communique said other Japanese units were moving up from the south toward Hsincheng, 35 miles southwest of Liuchow, after receiving reinforcements from their newly-taken base at Chienkiang. Tokyo claimed the Chinese 46th and 64th divisions were encircled in that area..