December 1, 1944, YANKS NEAR RHINE:

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, DECEMBER 1, 1944:

Long Beach 2. California Friday, December 1, 1944

Yonks Reach Last Natural

Barrier to Rhine Region

By THURSTON MACAULY

INS  Staff Correspondent

PARIS. Dec. 1.—(Friday)—The United States Ninth" Army pacing a stepped up attentive that captured even more German towns on the road to Cologne and Duseldorf hurled cradling artillery fire across the Roer early today after seizing a seven mile stretch of the vital river's west bank.

The London Daily Express In an undated story reported that nearly all of the Ninth army arrayed along the Roer on a front of 15 to 20 miles, (but this  was not confirmed.)

The stage was being set for a new crossing of the Roer, last important natural barrier before the German Rhine Itself, as Ninth army tank led troops, screened by devastating shell barrages, occurred  Linden, Flossdorf and Ratdorf, fought through most of hitting Back and clamped a pintera on Linnlch.

, . American spearheads, gouging' at fresh advances up to nearly ••three miles, knifed to within barely more than 21 airline miles from Co'nsne. chief center of the Industrial Rhinrland, and reached points about 21 miles from Duiseldorf. southern gateway to the more Important Ruhr basin. In the 15th day of the war's greatest battle.

5000 Japs Drown

In Six Ship Loss

BY HOWARD HANDLEMAN

INS staff correspondent

GENERAL MacARTHUR'S

HEADQUARTERS, Philippines

Dec. 1—(Friday)—

A seventh Japanese convoy of six ships, crammed with troops and supplies desperately needed by enemy forces on

Leyte was smashed In Philippine waters yesterday and Thursday with the Japanese suffering the

loss of another 5000 men and huge cargoes.

The convoy, consisting of a 3000-ton troop transport, three small freighter transports, n 5000- on freighter and a destroyer, was lasted In the Visayan sea by

Warhawk and Thunderbolt fighter bombers based on Leyte.

___________________

November 30, 1944; CIGARETTES TO THE ENEMY:

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY,  NOVEMBER 30, 1944
(See below, U. S. fags (cigarettes) sent to the enemy.)

New York        London Edition              Paris

VOL. 5 No. 25—Id.      Daily Newspaper of U.S. Armed Forces in the European Theater of Operations THURSDAY, Nov. 30, 1944

Canadians Advance

Into Reich From

Nijmegen Salient

The Germans admitted yesterday they were making a major withdrawal from Alsace-Lorraine before the drive of the U.S. Third and Seventh Armies on the southern sector of the Western Front, while to the north it was disclosed that Canadian troops were already a mile inside Germany after a regrouping of the forces along: the Nijmegen salient in Holland.

Observers looked for important events soon on the 400-mile front following the meeting in Belgium Tuesday Between Gen. Eisenhower and Field Marshal Montgomery, and it was assumed that the powwow between the Supreme Allied Commander and his chief aide could only result in another dose of bad medicine for the Germans.

On the extreme southern end of the front, the French First Corps was reported to have trapped a sizable German force between Mulhouse and Belfort.

More than 30 towns were freed, and a steady stream of prisoners was said to be coming in.

The Germans, continuing their Tuesday reports of tank operations north of tank operations north of tank operations north of Sarrebourg, said a tank battle was going on in the region of Sarre-Union.

Third Army Advancing

Massing a great threat to the Saar Basin, Lt. Gen. George S. Patton's Third Army was moving forward on a 35-mile front, and 26 of those miles were inside Germany. Patton's men were said to have passed beyond the greater portion of the Maginot Line, though they have not yet come up against the Siegfried defenses.

The 95th Division,' meeting strong artillery and mortar fire, was reported to be only 3+ miles southwest of Saarlautern after a two-mile advance, while the 80th Division made further gains on the road to Saarbruecken after throwing back a tank-led Nazi counter-attack.

Other units were said to have crossed the border at a point southwest of Saarlautem, and farther south mechanized cavalry entered the outskirts of Sarre-

Union.

First Army doughboys and tanks cleared the villages of Hurtgen and Kleinhaus and .continued northeast to Grosshau, where they were fighting from house to house, a consistent feature of the battle in this sector. To the north, infantrymen were still working to clear the Germans from the eastern parts of Inden and Lamersdorf.

Gateway to Cologne

B29s Hit Tokyo

In 1st Night Raid

U.S. Superforts made their first night raid on Tokyo last night, Japanese Radio reported. Appearing over the Japanese capital shortly before midnight, a "small force" of B-29s was reported to have dropped incendiary bombs.

An earlier Japanese communique announced an attack by Jap planes on the Saipan B-29 base.

Meanwhile, on Leyte Island, the battle for Ormoc continued, as U-S. naval units; operating off-shore hurled shells into enemy positions, Gen. MacArthur announced yesterday. Fifteen Japanese planes were destroyed by ack-ack.

  

                                                    Interned Japs

                                                    Send U. S. Fags

                                                    To the Enemy

This should be of particular interest to those in the U.K. with  corrugated tongues stemming from the imposed diet of cigars and smoking tobacco—and English cigarettes, when the shillings are willing. It's a reproduction of an article from the camp paper at Tule Lake Relocation Center, Cal.—showing how Jap internees pick up American cigarettes and ship them out to Jap soldiers.

November 29, 1944; Germany's Saar Basin Invaded:

Charleston. West Virginia. Wednesday Morning. November 29. 1944

Kirchberg Taken

By U. S. 9th

Continues Along

Flooded Roer River : .

SUPREME HEADQUARTERS,

AEF, Paris, Nov. 28.—AP—

The U. S. 3d army broke into the rich Saar basin along a new seven mile front today and a lull-seals battle at the Siegfried line .appeared near as the three mainfortress cities of, Saarbrucken, Saarlautern and Merzig were brought within American' artillery range.

To the north the' U. S. 9th army seized three towns' on the west banks of the flooded Roer and Inde rivers, closing in on -: the strong hold of Jullich from three directions, while the U. S. 1st army squeezed closer .to Duren. another barrier to the Cologne plain.

As the hard-working U. S. 1^st and 9th army battle teams fought deeper into the enemy's tough Roer river line, hundreds of fighter bombers roared out in close support of the ground forces.

Lt, Gen. George S. Patton's 3rd army. in Rains totaling seven miles, lengthened Its holding inside Germany to a front of 26'miles. '

The newest gains placed 3rd army troops within three and a half miles of Saarlautern and within eight and half miles of Saarbrucken. They previously were- reported within wo miles of Merzig.

Foe Evacuate Civilians .

A front dispatch from Lewis Hawkins, Associated Press correspondent, said some prisoners reported non-essential civilians already were being evacuated from -the –three cities, as well as from the French border cities of Sarreguemines and Forbach.

Weather Retards

Ground Fighting

U. S. Battleship Sustains

Hit in Enemy Attack

GEN. MacARTHUR'S HEADQUARTERS,

Philippines. Nov. 29

— (Wednesday—(AP) —

Japanese torpedo and dive bombers swarmed down on American warships and transports at Leyte gulf Monday In the heaviest such raid since reinvasion of the Philippines and U. S. destroyers t h e .same night negotiated treacherous waters to shell Ormoc.

In their first penetration of the Philippines Inland sea.

. The actions, on opposite sides of an island where storms stalemated the ground action, were announced today by Gen. Douglas MacArthur.

The enemy planes, boring through Intense ack ack from the warships, attacked units which included a battleship and unspecified damage was acknowledged.

Pass Jap-Held Isles

The swift American destroyers, to get over to the west side of Leyte. had to pass through straits washing islands in the hands of the Japanese.

Soviets Smash

14 Miles Ahead

On Wide Front

Nazis Cleared from Tisza

In Northern Hungary

 By New Advance

LONDON, Nov. 29.-Wedncsday)—

Advancing westward all across the breadth of Czechoslovakia and clearing the Germans' from the right bank of  the 'Tisza river in northern Hungary, the Red army scored advances of as much as 14 miles yesterday on closely linked fronts more than 110.miles long, Moscow disclosed.

The Russian communique which announced these gains, with capture of more than -60 communities In Czechoslovakia and ' 14 In upper Hungary, was  silent 'concerning German announcement that Soviet troops. In a new drive west of the Danube 98 miles south of Budapest, had seized Mohac and were pushing toward the coal-mining city of Pees In southwest Hungary.

The Paris radio said the Red army also was approaching Lake Balatoi. 33 -miles northwest of Pecs., but on this, too, the -Russians ~were silent.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

LAMERSDORF AND

GROSSHAU FALL

TO AMERICANS

BY J. EDWARD MURRAY

Paris, Nov. 30 —

The American First and Ninth armys  captured Lamersdorf and, Grosshau and hamered the Germans back through the streets,

four other villages in savage fighting along a 21-mile front on the muddy plains before CotofM and Dussefdorf today.

The German line appeared to be sagging back toward the Roer river aloge the: entire sector beyond "Aachen 'despite fanatical resistance

by Germany's best troops, under orders to "stand or die."

Front dispatches said Germany was throwing her choicest reserves into action in the west to replace an estimated 100,000 troops killed, wounded .or captured in the first- three weeks of the- Allied "victory' offensive, along a 400-mile front from Holland to the Swiss border.

Matching the American, fains in the north, Lt. Gen. George S. Patton's American Third army advanced up to a mile and a half deeper into

Germany's Saar basin and seized, high ground: within two miles of both Mersig and Saarlautern, Siegfried Line strongholds on the Saar river.

RAMPAGING REDS

CROSS DANUBE IN

GREAT STRENGTH

By ROBERT MUSEL

London, Nov. "30—(UP)—

A rampaging Red army burst across the Danube in great strength and fanned out through southern Hungary on a broad front today in a last-breaking offensive that carried to within 50 miles or less of Lake Balaton, historic – invasion gate to Austria.

Riddling through the German and Hungarian defenses at a mile an-hour clip, the hard-charging Soviets captured the fortress city of Pecs, 108 miles south-southwest of Budapest, and overran more than 330 other towns and villages on a wedge-shape 93-mile front extending down the west bank of the Danube into Yugoslavia.

A triumphant Moscow communique revealed that the Russians were pushing out to the west and northwest at top speed,( raising the double threat of an invasion drive to the Austrian border, barely 100 miles away, as well as an enveloping thrust around the southern flank of Budapest.

YANKS SMASH 6TH

JAP ATEMPT T0

REINFORCE LEYTE

Allied, headquarters, Philippines,

Nov. 30— (UP)—

American planes have smashed a sixth large scale Japanese attempt to reinforce the doomed Leyte garrison, sinking 13 ships with at least 4,000 troops in a two-day battle in the Camotes sea, Gen. Douglas MacArthur announced today.

Two of the ten transports sunk reached the enemy stronghold of Ormoc on the west coast of Leyte and had unloaded partially before they were sent to the bottom, but the remainder went down with virtually all hands. Three escorting destroyers also were sunk.

The victory boosted the enemy's losses in six attempts at reinforcement of Leyte to 21.000 men, 28 transports of a total of 92,750 tons, and 17 escort vessels.