February 3,1945; Yanks 18 from Manila::

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1945:

ABILENE, TEXAS, SATURDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 3, 1945.— TWELVE PAGES

One Force 18 Air

Miles From Manila

By The Associated Press

American advances on all Luzon fronts, with one Yank force only 18 miles from Manila's northern city line, were reported by Gen. Douglas MacArthur late Thursday,

On the northeast front the Americans pushed ahead 32 miles to capture Cabanatuan, Santa Rosa and Gapan, while strong motorized forces penetrated to Sabang.

"This," said General MacAilhur, "gives us dominance of all major roads and railroads in the central plains" and totally; severs Japan's troops on north and south Luzon in the front approaching Manila, the Yanks were nearing Malolos, a road-rail center. Blocks on the main road in ihe Umingan sector gave the Americans complete control of the . highway in the north-central plain.  Heavy; fighting was in progress on the outskirts of Umingan. From the Olongapo naval base the Yanks pushed six miles across the mouth of Bataan peninsula. Japanese resistance was light.

Reds 38 to 51 Miles

Distant From Berlin

LONDON, Saturday, Feb. 3.—(AP)—

The Soviet high command announced last night that Russian troops in a 15-

mile smash through the Knstrin-Frankfort defense arc had rolled to within 51 miles of Berlin, while the Germans said the Red army already was attacking Kustrin and had-reached the Oder river at new points only 38 miles from the imperilled

Reich capital.

Simultaneously, the right wing of Marshal Gregory K. Zhukov's First White Russian army penetrated to within 36 miles southeast of Stettin, the Baltic port for Berlin, threatening to cut off a 13,500-Square-mile sector of Pomerania, the

Polish corridor and Danzig territory.

This stroke, a two-day 19 mile fighting advance northwest of fallen Landsberg, was aimed both at Lessening the danger of a German flanking attack against Zhukov's Berlin- bound central spearheads, and also at the eventual seizure of the prize ports of Stettin,

Gdynia and Danzig.

Berlin said that Soviet tank forces had begun attacking Kustrin, 40 miles northeast of bomb-ridden Berlin, after coiling around northwest, of that ancient fortress city and reaching the Oder river 39 miles or less from the Axis capital.

Nazis Leaders

Work Against

Call To Quit

LONDON, Feb. 2.—(AP)—

Nazi propagandists sought tonight to stiffen the German people against an expected "last surrender call" from* the

Big Three conference by warning of "political trickery in the decisive round of the

war." Neutral and German reports said that feverish preparations for defense of Berlin continued and a Moscow broadcast claimed that Propaganda Minister Paul Joseph Goebbels already had deserted the capital with his propaganda ministry for Bavaria.

February 2, 1945; Yanks raw Near to Manila:

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1945:

TUCSON, ARIZONA, FRIDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 2, 1945.

First Efforts Of Reds

To Force Crossing Of

Oder Reported Foiled

By ROBERT MUSEL

LONDON, Feb. 2. (U.P)—

The Germans, reported today that powerful Russian forces massing along the Oder east .of Berlin were trying to smash across that last big barrier before the capital, in the streets of which the terrified civilians were throwing up barricades.

The German high command said strong Red army units had reached the Oder on either side of Frankfurt, 38 miles due east of Berlin, and northwest of Kustrin, where the Oder elbow points down within 30 miles of the city.

A Nazi military commentator deported that the first effort by Marshal Gregory K. Zhukov's first White Russian army to force the Oder was made at Kustrin, 42 miles

east-northeast of Berlin. . .

Citizens Join In Prayer

"The courageous citizens of Kustrin chased back a Soviet tank detachment which was trying to cross the Oder, destroying six of the tanks and damaging others," the

commentator, Wilfred Von Offen, said in a German home service pep talk.

Moscow dispatches said Zhukov's armor and mobile infantry were flooding across a broad reach of the German border east of Berlin, and now were closing in on Frankfurt, and Kustrin to exploit the gains of armored spearheads blazing the Soviet trail to Germany's "Rhine of the east."

Russian Flanks Fan Out .

Both flanks of the Red army which had raced from the Vistula to the Oder in three weeks were fanning- out in strength as the forces at the center of Zhukove ‘s offensive front massed-on the-Oder.

Yanks And French

Clear 30 Miles

Of Rhine Bank

PARIS, Feb. 2. (/P)—

American and French troops broke into the northern end of Colmar, provincial French capital 40 miles south' of Strasbourg, at noon today after

clearing :M) miles of the left bank ' of the Rhine and laying siege to the Neufbrisach bridge from a mile away.

(The Paris radio interrupted a broadcast early tonight to announce

that French troops had captured Colmar.)

By -JAMES M. LONG

PARIS, Feb. 2. (AP)—

American and French troops cleared 30 miles of the left bank of the Rhine below Strasbourg today and laid a heavy.'artillery barrage on the Neufbrisach railroad escape bridge from less than a mile away.

In the center of the western front, the American first and third armies probed deeper into the thinly manned Siegfried line and advanced up to two miles in its

fringes on the western slopes of the Eifel mountains opposite the late Ardennes bulge.

Half a dozen German hamlets were taken; more lines of dragon teeth tank barriers were passed; scores of pillboxes—many undefended—were captured.

Yankees Draw

Near Manila

On Two Sides

Third Landing Is Made

Below Philippine,

Capital City

LITTLE OPPOSITION

Chief Fighting Is Far

To North By Japs

 In Mountains

By WILLIAM B. DICKINSON

•• MACARTHUR'S HEADQUARTERS,

Luzon, Feb. 2. (U,P) ~

American tanks and infantrymen converged on Manila from two sides today.

The capital and the entire Japanese defense system In southern Luzon were outflanked with a surprise landing 13 miles below the mouth of Manila bay.

Amphibious forces of the U. S. eighth army, knifing into the

enemy's thinly-held west coast defenses for the third time In 48 hours, , swarmed ashore  early Wednesday at Nasugbu bay, 41 miles south-west of Manila.

To Shore Of Manila Bay

The landing was completed without loss and at last reports the Americans were advancing Inland through weak opposition at a pace that may already have carried

them to the shores of Manila bay, within artillery range of Corregidor.

Troops of the U. S. llth air-borne division who carried out the new invasion, captured Nasugbu town liberating a colony of Internee European nationals, and struck out for Tatagay ridge, 20 miles to the east, where highway three curves northward to Manila.

February 1, 1945:Allied Prisoners Rescued Near Manila:

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1945:

Soviets Reported

Within 40 Miles

of Nazi Capital

Russians Mass Power

On Edge of Stream

For Final Assault

London, Feb. 1 (UP)—

Russian forces drove to the Oder river less than 40 miles from Berlin today, and 175 miles to th3 east captured the long-encircled Polish city of Torim, killing or capturing the German garrison by-passed in the lightning sweep westward. Russian and German reports agreed that powerful soviet forces were massing  on the east bank of the Oder in evident preparation for storming the last natural defense line athwart the approaches to Berlin.

The fall of Torun. Polish fortress city on the lower Vistula 80 miles northeast of Poznan and 25 miles southeast of Bygoszcz, was announced in a special order of the day by Marshal Stalin, broadcast from Moscow

The German high command admitted that Marshal Gregory K. Zhukov's forces had swept to the east bank of the Oder northwest of .Kustrin, 42 mües east of Berlin.

from Kustrin the river angles northeastward to its right-angle elbow, an even 30 miles from the capital.

Third Army Units

Overrun Four

German Towns

American Divisions

Fight Into Outposts

of Siegfried Line

Paris, Feb. 1, (UP)—

American First army headquarters today reported Signs that the Germans were withdrawing from some sections of the Siegfried line, against which United States divisions were closing on a 40-miIe attack front in Germany,

Belgium and Luxembourg.

Paris, Feb. 1 (UP) —

Lieutenant General George S. Patton's Third army assault forces overran four

German towns today and broadened their front inside the reich to four and a half miles.

United States First and Third army divisions were fighting flank to flank into the outposts of the Siegfried line along a 40-mile attack front winding through Belgium, Luxemburg, and Germany.

At the southern end of the western front, the French First army opened a new attack in Alsace that appeared to have broke the German threat to Strasbourg.

Commandos Dart Behind Jap Lines In Surprise Attack

510 Prisoners Freed In Daring Raid

Two men from Minnesota and two from North Dakota are included in the list of American prisoners released in the attack on the prisoner of war camp at

Cabanatnan. They include Emmet Manson, United States navy, Worthington; Private Loren G. Fierce, Princeton; Sergeant Edward A. Bumes, Bowman,

N. D., and Corporal John T. Reeff, Glen Ullin, N. D.

 Allied headquarters, Luzon,-Feb. 1 (UP)—

A daring commando raid by American rangers and Filipino  guerillas last night staged the first mass rescue of allied prisoners in this war, bringing 510 captives from 25 miles behind the Japanese lines to safety. General Douglas MacArthur announced today.

The raiders, composed of 121 picked men from the sixth ranger battalion and 286 guerillas made the rescue in a surprise attack shortly after dark on the Japanese

prison camp at Cabanatuan, some 70 miles north of Manila in Nueva Ecija province.

MacArthur Jubilantly announced the rescue and said the American forces achieved complete surprise over the Japanese guards, who were annihilated. Then the rangers and guerillas with their column of ragged, weary liberated prisoners engaged in a running fight with Japanese infantry and tanks, Mac-

Arthur declared in a special press release.

Some of the prisoners were captured by the Japanese when Corregidor surrendered nearly three years ago.