8/14/2019 730th Clutz
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Capture O fI w o Airfield"Imminent:"* fPlanes Help
V. S. Pacific Fleet Headquar-ters, Gum, Feb. M (AP>C-tiire *T
Iwo Jbaa's leecod air.field. In the center ot the rtra-tefte little
i n l an d , wa* Imminenttoday as three Marine dirfarfoudr?e north
with considerabhf, air iMpport lu au IntensifiedMWh
Thfat ttlffest f lfht of the Pa-e l f l c war went Into its
secondweek with the Yank* trimlyholding ah wMt half the In l an d
,7M mile* south of Tokyo, an dmaking inexorable
frofrcusnorthward.The Devildogs, already on themain airfield in the
southern partof Iwo, captured the east-west run-way of the central
Iwo fighter field(Motoyama. No. 2) late yesterdayand enveloped
two-thirds of thenorth-south runway after a full dayof heavy
fighting.5,372 Marine CasualtiesTheir assault followed a
prelimi-nary bombardment by artillery andwarship batteries. Carrier
planesand Marianas based Liberator heavybombers gave close support
to theground forces.Adm. Chester W. Nimitz an-nounced the push
today in a com-munique which made no furthermention of the second
heavy strikeby Fifth' Fleet carrier planes againstthe Tokyo area
this month. Thefleet could still be in the area.The count ._of
Japanese dead onIwo reached 2,827 yesterday. Theenemy garrison was
estimated at20,000 on D-Day.The last report on American
cas-ualities was the figure of 5,372 dead,wounded and missing up to
6 p. in.Wednesday. The dead numbered 644at that time.Nimitz
announced that the Third,Fourth and Fifth Marine Divisionsof Maj.
Gen. Harry Schmidt's FifthAmphibious Corps launched theirbig attack
"after preliminary bom-bardment by Marine artillery andheavy units
of the Pacific Fleet.""Fighting was heavy throughoutthe day," the
communique said,"and at nightfall our forces were inpossession of
the east-west runwayof the central Iwo field and abouttwo-thirds of
the north-south run-w a y . "This was the last airfield in
Japa-nese hands. A third field, in thenorthern part of the island,
is un-der construction but far f ro m com-pletion. Trie only
airdrome longenough to accommodate bombers,Motoyama No. 1, was
overrun by theYanks the day after the invasion.
Japs StillH o l d O u t I nManila Ru insB y F R ED HA MPSO
NManila, Feb. 26 (AP)Officiallythe battle is over, but
Manilarumbled today as American artll-'lery blasted Japanese who
used asurrender period to improve theirpositions in the two
buildings theystill hold.At the entrance of Manila bay,Corregidor
fortress was shaken anewby underground explosions touchedoff by
enemy Marines committingmass suicide.Last night loud speakers
blareda final warning from Maj. Gen.Robert S. Belghtler to Japanese
inManila's agricultural and' financebuildings to "surrender,
commitsuicide or be killed."The ,Japanese answered withsniper fire
in the d irection of theloud speakers. When the warningvoice gave
the enemy thirty min-utes to evacua te , 1st Lt. Richard K.Bishop
of East Brady, Pa., said someJapanese dashed f ro m the buildingand
do ve into defense positions atits base, using the immunity
periodto improve their position.Yanks Buried A l i veMain fighting
was east of Manilaa long the Takahashi line.There was no mention in
Gen.Douglas MacArthur's communiquetoday of action in Manila. He
an-nounced Saturday that doughboysof the 37th Infantry and First
Cav-alry Divisions overwhelmed theenemy's final positions in south
Ma-nila's ancient Intramuros and de-stroyed the trapped
garrison.More than 12,000 Japanese bodiesa lready had been
counted.On Corregidor two hundred sur-vivors tried to make a run
for itf ro m the Malinta tunnel mouthaf te r a t r emendous blast
but werecu t clown by enf i l ading fire of the503rd Paratroopers
and the 34thRegiment 's Third Battalion.Five big explosions were
heardFr iday night deep under Malintahill.Great pieces of tunnel
were blownout Wednesday as the fatalistic Jap-anese touched off a
subterraneanammunit ion d u m p . Several Yankswere buried alive
and others werein jured .
Weather ForecastRain tonight and Tuesday.
T H E GETTYSBURG TIMESTruth Ou r Quide Thc Public Qo o d Ou r A
im Wi th Honor to Ourtelvc* and Profit t o O u r Patron*
Qood . EveningT h e R u s s i a n s overcame t he Oder.
guess w e c an t ake Cologne.
ESTABLISHED 1902 Eead Wire Member of The Associated Press
GETTYSBURG, PA., MONDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 26, 1945 Bead by Nearly
Everybody in A d a m s County PRICE THREE CENTSYanks 13 Miles From
Cologne~ ' "" ' " -HP m I II I I k^^_ mm n ^ ^^ ^B^
S E C O N D F L Y I N GS O N IS K I L L E D ;O T H E R M I SS I
NGThe second war casualty in thesame family In jess' than
fourmonths struck over the week-endwhen Mrs. F. X. Colgan,
McSher-rystown, was informed by the WarDepartment that her son, 1st
Lieu-tenant Donald J. Colgan, 28, was-killed in action over
northern Italyon February 8. He would have been27 next June 15.Last
November Mrs. Colgan wasinformed by War Department tele-gram that
her son 2nd LieutenantRobert P. Colgan was missing in the
Burma theatre of operation sinceOctober 22.Lieut.. Donald
Colgan- enlisted inthe Army Air Corps in March, 1942.Six weeks
later he was sent toHawaii and one day less than a yearlater he was
returned to the Stateson a brief furlough and then wasselected to
attend Officer CandidateSchool where he was commissioned a2nd
Lieutenant. In September, 1943,he was sent overseas and based
atCorsica. This was his last knownaddress.He was attached to the
447thBombing Squadron of the 321stBombing Group.The young officer
was a bombard-ier-navigator and had flown manyaerial raiding
missions over Nazi-controlled countries.A graduate of McSherrystown
highschool, Lieut. Colgan was employedat the American Chain and
CableCompany, York, before he enlisted.Son of Former J u d g eThe
two young officers, both serv-ing in the Army Air Forces, are
theonly two sons of Mrs. Colgan servingin the present wor ld war. A
numberof sons-in-law are hi service.The two officers are brothers
ofMrs. Richard S. Codori, North Strat-ton street, whose husband is
in theNavy serving somewhere in the At-lantic theatre of
operations. Theyare also brothers of Mrs. MerviriKress, chief clerk
at the local WarPrice and Rationing Board in theHotel Eberhart.The
late F. X. Colgan was chair-man of the Adams County Demo-cratic
Committee and a former as-sociate judge of Adams county.
Killedrrc. ctiaritef uene , ai,son of Mr. and Mrs. Selmar
H.Hess, 233 ChambersbBrg street,WM killed in action December 17on
(he western f r on t , lie was in-ducted In February, 1943, an
dserved with tne infantry. We.Hess had been overseas sincelast
October.
Here And ThereN*w> Collected At Random
M R S , C . R . S M I T HD I E S O F S T R O K EMrs. Ella Smith,
71, wife of Cal-vin R. Smith, Gettysburg R. 4, diedSaturday mor
ning at 10 o'clock ather home near Hunters town f ro mthe effects
of a stroke which shesuffered Thursday. She had beenin ill health
for the last year.Mr. Smith formerly was stewardat the county home
and the Smithsresided there for a number of years.M r s . Smith was
a daughter of thelate Peter ^nd Ellen fSwec ney)Haines and lived
all of her life inthis county. Surviving arc her hus-band ; two
children, Mrs. LeviSpanglcr, at home, and Earl, Big-lerville R. 1.
There are three grand-children.Funeral services Tuesday after-noon
at 1:30 o'clock f ro m the Smithhome with the Rev. U. A. Guss,
sup-ply pastor for the Great Co ncwago
Presbyterian church at Hunters-town, officiating. Interment in
thechurch cemetery.Mrs. Smith was a m e m b e r of theGreat
Concwago church and waspresident of the Women's Mission-ary society
of thatcongregation.Friends may call at the home thisevening and
until the hour of thefune ral Tuesday.Driver Is FinedA f t e r
Collision Here
Char les J. Dilton, Biglerville, paida Its fine and costs
following an ac-cident at the intersection of Car-isle street and
Lincoln avenue, Sat-urday afternoon ab out 3:45 o'clock.Total
damage to both cars was es-timated at about $200. The
accidentoccurred when Dillon failed to stop'or a red l ight signal
at the inter-section as he traveled north andtruck the left side of
a second cardriven by Mrs. Billy Shealcr, 253Balt imore street.
Borough OfficerM a r k W. Stalcy, wh o investigated,said. Mrs.
Shealcr was driving weston Lincoln avenue.Dillon, a member of the
MerchantMarine , was arraigned before Justiceof the Peace Robert P.
Snyder andpleaded guilty to the charge of fal l -ing to stop for a
red light. Damageto the Dillon car was estimated atabout $SO and
that to the Shealcrmachine at about $190. No one WM"itjured.
The decision to have thegovernor and the state govern-ment of
Pennsylvania partiespate in the annual MemorialDay exercises in
Gettysburgdefinitely assures national rec-ognition for tills annual
pro-gram. This was effectively prov-en last year when 38
governorsattended the exercises.Governor Martin's suggestionto have
a governor f ro m thesouth and one from the north,in troduced last
year, illustratedthe intelligent thinking and theBIGNESS of
Pennsylvania'swar-time governor. His ownpresence added color and
dig-nity to the occasion. As mas-ter of ceremonies again thisyear
he will again attract na-t ion-wide interest because Gov-ernor
Martin has mo ved to thefo re f ro nt of this nation's
con-servative, sound and businessexecutives. * * *
We are again asked to appealto every family in Gettysburgand
Adams county to save wastepaper for the war effort. Eachday the
need for waste paper in-creases and every person -isasked to save
every scrap all thetime. ...or at least until thishor r ible war is
over. Save yourscrap paper . . . place it in con-tainers or tie it
into bundles.Each month it will be collected.Don't waste it. Don't
burn it. * *rc i i i i . s y l v a n i a families r e c e i ve
d$124,804,000 in l ife insurancedeath benefits during 1944,
com-pared with $114,100,000 in theprevio us year and
$102,067,000(Please Turn to Page 5)
Former Countian' In Army HospitalGordon Hul l , USA, 20, eldest
sonof Mr. and Mrs. George A. Hul l ,Pleasurcvi l l e , York county,
formerEast Berlin residents, who has serv-ed in the A r m y for
some time, isnow in France and has been amedical patient in an army
hospitalthere after having been taken ill.The y o u n g man, who
received apart of his education in the EastBer l in borough school,
is a grand-son of Mr. and Mrs. Eli J. Gross and
O f Mrs. Lizzie Hull, all of East Ber-lin/ and has many other
relativesin that section.His uncle , Richard J. Gross, USA,wa s the
first East Berlin servicemanto die in action, having been killedin
action September 1, 1943, in theSouth Pacific. Another uncle, Ir-wl
n H. Gross, East Berlin, Is servingin the Navy. ,Youngster StruckIn
Eye By Arrow
J. Allen Wonders, four-year-oldson of Mr. and Mrs. Glenn
Won-ders, York Springs R. D.. is a pa-tient at tlTe Carlisle
hospital as theresult of a badly injured left eyereceived Sunday
when struck by anarrow shot by his brother, Donnic.Several sutures
were required toclose the wo und. Dr. Donald Stoncr,Carlisle, told
a Times reporter todaythat he believes the eye wi l l healwithout
the youngster's vision beingimpaired.
C O U N T Y T O K E E PO V E R T H I R D O FR . C . W A R F U N
D
While the $29,000 quota for the1 9 4 5 Red Cross War Fund is
thehighest ever assigned to the county,the percentage of the quota
to beretained by the Adams county chap-ter is also the highest in
the chap-ter's long history.Mrs. Elsie Singmaster, Lewars,chairman
of the chapter, said that$10,500 or 37.5 per cent of the
$28,000quota 'will be retained while $17,600will be remitted to the
nationalRed Cross war fund.The county chapter is given agreater
portion of the total in orderto meet the fast expanding*
require-ments made on its home service de-partment, which
department isprincipally devoted to looking afterthe needs of
servicemen and theirfamilies.
Expanded Home ServiceLast year 550telegrams were sentto Red
Cross field directors"in va-rious camps in the United
Statesaffirming the need of servicemen'spresence at home on account
of ill-ness, births or deaths in their fam-ilies. Nearly $1,200 was
spent intelegrams, telephone tolls and visi-tations to expedite
requests for fur-loughs and extensions of furloughsin circumstances
of this kind.A serviceman's request for a fur-lough or extension of
a furlough,because of circumstances at home,is referred by his
commander to theRed Cross field director in his camp.The latter
immediately writes thelocal chapter and a spot investiga-tion of
the circumstances is madeImmediately upon receipt of thetelegram,
regardless of the hour ofthe day or the night. Within min-utes, the
local chapter speeds a re-ply to the field director giving
thecircumstances and frequently thephysician's assurance that the
sol-dier's presence is desirable. Thismessage is handled with equal
-spec*at the camp and the serviceman isthen on his way.Another
important phase of homeservice work is the matter of loansand
grants made to servicemen andtheir families in emergencies.
Nearly$4,500 was loaned In 1944 of whichbetter than $2,500 has been
repaid.Fine Production RecordIn 1944 the Adams County chap-ter
expended a total of $11,179.91 towhich was credited $2,535.20
repaidon servicemen's loans, making thenet cost of operating
$8,644.71.Administration costs were less(Please Turn to Fape
2)Fixes Damaged PlaneIn Flight To Base
S/Sgt. Clinton R. Solt, 22, son ofMrs. Lydia K. Solt, South
Wil-liamsport, had a big part ingetting his staggering,
flak-crippledB-17 Flying Fortress back to Eng-land recently after
an attack on subpens at Hamburg. Germany.Flak knocked out two
engines , cutthe oxygen supply and, severed theelevator and rudder
control cables.Working with the aerial englneer;Sgt. Solt repaired
the cables whichenabled the plane to land safely.During the two
hours of frantic ef-for t required to fix the damagedcontrols it
was necessary to wo rkwith the use of emergency oxygenbottles.Mrs.
Solt is the former Miss KatieClnpsaddle, of Gettysburg. She is
asister of Mrs. Bert Hummer, Get-tysburg, Jesse Clapsaddle and
AnnaClapsaddlc of Gettysburg R. D.
Scrap CollectionExceeds Ten TonsWith a few odd lots of
salvageyet to be collected today, Gettys-burg firemen said the
February col-lection made Sunday afternoon willtotal "over 10 tons"
including aboutnine and a half tons of waste paper.Tin cans and
other metals accountfor the balance.Using five trucks abo ut 20
fire-men worked f ro m 1:30 p. m. until4 o'clock and covered the
entiretown. They used two trucks loanedby Morris Gitlin, one from
B. W.Hummer and t wo fire companytrucks to collect the scrap
material.Vernon Corle, salvage chairm anfor the fire company, said
that plansare being made to truck a collectionof processed tin cans
to Baltimorelater this week. The collection ofcans that have been
accumulatedat local school buildings probab ly
will be made Tuesday or Wednes-d a y , he said.
F L I E R W H O W A ST R A I N E D H E R EH A S A I R M E D A
L
Two years ago Hfenry Joseph Mc-Cann, of Chateaugay, N. Y., was
afreshman at the Plattsburg, N. Y.,State Teachers' College. In
April of1 9 4 3 he came to Gettysburg collegeas a cadet in the
College TrainingDetachment of the Army Air Forces.On Sunday he
returned here to visitfriends, a veteran bombardier of the15th Air
Force in Italy with 35bombing missions to his credit andwinner of
the Air Medal with twooak leaf clusters. He is now FirstLieutenant
Henry J. McCann. Hewill be 21 years old next October 2.Young McCann
enlisted to the AirCorps hi December, 1942. On Febru-ary 22, 1943,
he reported at Atlantic
Tanks A nd I n f a n t r y PushAcross Rhine V a l l e y ; RedsM
o v e T o w a r d R a l t i c SeaLon d on , Feb. 26 (AP) M a r -sh
a l Con stan t i n R okossovsky 'sSecond White Bassian Army,sc or i
n g a deep ne w penetrationin th e d r i ve towar d th e Baltic,h a
s r e a c h e d t h e area o f H a t n -m e r s t e i n , 51 m i l
e s f r o m th e sea,
a. German military spokesmansaid today.The armored thrust
threat-
e n e d to cut in two a 3 2 5 -mi l el on g coastal corridor th
e Ger-m a n s h o l d fr om below Stettin toE l bi ng , in east
Prussia. H a t a -merstein is 11 miles southeast ofXeustettin.A t
th e western e n d o f t h e cor-ridor, the Russians also forcedthe
Germans to retreat north-w a rd from captured Arnswalde -to a line
alongr the Ihna river,the Berlin spokesman said in abroadcast.The
Ihna runs through Starogardand Reetz, 19 to 40 miles east
ofStettin. Neustettin, important com-munications center in
northeasternPomerania, is about 90 miles eastand slightly north of
Stettin.50,000-Man Assault,The reaching of the Hammersteinarea by
the Russians would repre-sent a 10-mile gain f ro m Brkenfeld,whose
capture the Russians an-nounced last night. The strongholdof
Preussich-Friedland also fell inthe new Soviet drive, Moscow
said.Berlin said that more than 50,000men were thrown into the new
So-viet assault, spearheads of which al-ready have struck to
within. 60 miles
Jtraining at the Gettysburg ^airportand scholastic studies at
tlie college.Two months later, in June, he wassent to Nashville, A
AT 1 reclasslfica-tion center; then he went to SantaAna, Calif.,
Las Vegas, Nev., and
irun a 10-mile stretch of the Berlin-Danzig highway.The drive,
launched in the areasouthwest of Chojnice, gained sevenmiles
yesterday through lake-stud dedterrain, toppled the town of
Bischof-Carlsbad, Ne w Mexico, where on j swalde , three miles
north of the su-April 1,1944, he was commissioned^a 2nd Lt. as a
bombardier. Sevenmonths later he was promoted toFirst Lieutenant.S
e n t To ItalyFrom Carlsbad young McCann wassent to Fresno, Calif.,
and threeweeks later he went to Tonopah,Nevada. Afte r a brief
overseas train-ing period he was sent to Italy ar-riving at the
15th Air Base on July30. He joined his squadron on July 31and on
Augus t 2 he flew his firstbombing mission over southernFrance.
There followed raids in B-24's over Germany, Austria,
France,Northern Italy, Rumania, Hungary,Please Turn to Paire 2)Is
Liaison OfficerFor Army Airways
A Ninth Ai r Force Service Com-mand Unit , France, (B y
Mail)FirstLieutenant Paul I. Orner, 28, isliaison officer of the
Army AirwaysCommunica tions System serving theAir Transport Group
of the NinthAh- Force Service Command . He isthe son of Mr. and
Mrs. Ira S.Orner, Arencltsville, Pa.Th e mo bi le uni t to which
Lieuten-ant Orner is attached is responsiblefor maintaining a
constant plane-to-gro uncl contact, and for transmittingurgent
administrative messages whenthey are routed through their
chan-nels.
and at the same timeknifed across a section of the
Berlin-Stettin-Danzig railway.Desperate FigbtinpA Berlin broadcast
said Nazi re-serves were being rushed into thesector, 110 miles
northeast of Stettin,Baltic port for Berlin, and a lateRussian
communique said 3,000 Ger-man dead were left on the battle-field,
suggesting that- a grand scalebattle was in progress.Other Red Army
forces battlingsouthwest of Koenigsberg, imperilledeast Prussian
capital, seized sixmore towns, while farther to thenorth heavy
German counterattackson the Samland peninsula were re-pulsed,
Moscow said.The Nazis fo ught desperately inthe Samland area in an
effort tokeep open a corridor between Koe-nigsberg and Pillau,
Baltic escapeport 25 miles west of the east Prus-sian
capital.German broadcasts, meanwhile,said Russian bridgehead s
across theNeisse river had been crushed south-east of Berlin, where
the Russiansfor several cays have been explod-ing furio us
artillery attacks.jn theGuben-Forst-Cottbus triangle.
C o l . J ohn J. Clutz IsAwarded Legion Of Merit( Spe c i a l to
Th e G e t ty sb ur g T i m e s )
Teheran, I r anOuts tand ing serv-ice as a co mmanding officer
of ara i lway operating battalion helpingmo ve vital war supplies
through thePersian Corridor to the U.S.S.R. hasb r o ug h t award
of the Legion ofMerit to Col. Joh.n J. Clutz, of FortWayne, Ind.,
Persian G ulf commandheadquarters has announced .Colonel Clutz is a
son of Dr. andM r s . Frank -H. C l u U , West Broad-w a y .Brig .
Gen. Do nald P. Booth, com-m a n d i n g the PGC, presented
themedal at special ceremonies in thegeneral's office at A m i r a
b a d Posthere recently. The award to ColonelClutz, now general
super in tendent ,of the PGC's Third Military Rail-way Service, was
based on his serv-ie as commanding officer of the730th Railwa y
Operating Battali on."The high degree of technical pro-ficiency and
outstanding leadershipof Colonel Clutz," the citation ac-companying
the award read, "hasmaintained the efficiency and moraleof Uie
73Qtli Railway Operating Bat-
talion as a high standard and en-abled this batta l ion to pe
rfo rm avi tal part in the delivery of war ma-teriel to the Soviet
armies.""Reflects Great Credit"Pointing: out that he was
responsi-ble for t r a i n i n g a largo proportionof the officers
now holding responsi-ble positions in the Third MRS, thecitation
declared that the battalion'soperations improved s tead ily
underColonel Cluti's supervision and cul -minated in a record pe
rfo rmance inJuly and August of 1944,when theThird MRS exceeded its
plannedcarrying capacity by 25 per cent. 'In the performance of his
du-ties," the citation co nt inued, "heworked in close conjunction
withthe representatives of the U.SSR.and has developed a high
standardof mutual good will and understand-ing between the United
States Armyand Soviet officials. Th e service ofColonel Clutz has
been a materialcontribution to the successful ac-complishment of tn
mission of theThird Military Railway Service and(Please Turn to
Faje 5)
L O C A L S A I L O R I SW E D I N C H I C A G OMiss Ann Mcnich.
daughter ofM r s . Maria Menich . Chicago. 111.and Aviat io n
Machinists' Mate 3- CJohn L. Plattenburg. Jr., son ofChie f
Machinists' Mate an d Mrs.John L. Plattenburg, Mechanicsburg.fo
rmerly of Gettysburg, were unitedin marriage Saturday, February 10
,at 6 p. m. in Zio n Slovak Lutheranchurch, Chicago, by the Rev.
Mr.'Bajus. Approximately 150 relativesan d f r iends attended the
ceremony.Miss Bessie Menich, sister of thebride , was the maid of
honor, andRussel Hurst, USN, Chicago, wa sbest man.Th e bridesmaids
were Mrs. WilmaBatka , sister of the br ide . Miss Dor-othy
Pedcrscn, Miss Mary Au l andMiss Helen Swi f t , all of Chicago.Fo
l lo wing the ceremony a recep-tion was held at 8:30 p. m. at
North-west Hail, Chicago, with approxi-mate ly 15 0 f r iends
attending.The bridegroom attended Gettys-burg high school and
enlisted inthe Navy in October. 1941. He re-turned January 17 after
serving 32months in the Pacific area. OnMarch 1 he will report at
Jackson-ville, Fla., fo r further assignment.His bride graduated
from Tuleyhigh school, Chicago. She is nowresiding with her
husband's parentsIn Mech&nicsburg.
By JAMES M. LONGParis, Feb. 26 ( A P ) T w o American Armies
sped fivemiles across the Rhine valley today in tanks and on foot
towith in 13 miles of Cologne an d with in six miles of the greatR
u h r arsenal and its border city of Muenchen Gladbach.Sweeping up
25 or more towns, -the- American Ninth an dFirst Armies closed
within three miles of the Erft riverlastwater barrier before the
sprawling Rhine metropolis ofCologneand moved within 19 miles
southwest of Duessel-dorf, administrative center of the
Ruhr.Cologne's spires were in sight.The assault front broadened to
40 miles and wasstrengthened continuously by the infusion of
streams oftanks, self-propelled guns and fresh manpower.Berlin G e
t sBiggest R a i d
London, Feb. 26 ( A P)Mor ethan 1,200 American heavyb omb e r s
carried out' the war'sbiggest attack on Berlin today,streaming over
the Germancapital in a 150-mile long pro-cession.G uarding- bombers
over thetarget were 700 long-rangeMustangs and Thunderbolts.The
first announcement by U. S.Strategic Air Force headquarterssaid the
attack was directed againstrailway targets and most of thebombs
were dropped through, clouds.The bomber fleet exceeded
byapproximately 200 planes the sizeO f the assault on Berlin Feb.
3.DNB in an early afternoon broad-least said a 150-mile long train
ofbombers was still approaching thecity while the first formations
at-tacked the capital.Starting at 10 a. m. Germanbroadcasts
repeatedly reported themovements of large bomber forma-tions
attacking the Reich for the14th consecutive day.Destroy 81 Nazi
PlanesRAF Mosquitos attacked Berlinlast night.Allied Air Forces
flew more than5,000 sorties yesterday, exclusive ofthe U. S. 15th
Air Force in Italy,which carried its record assault ontargets in
Austria and southernGermany through the 13th day. The15th conducted
its smash in directand requestedsupport of the Rus-sian armies.The
German Air Force was activein some sectors against the
Alliedassault coining f ro m all directions.At least 46 Nazi planes
were shotout of the sky, 27 by Americans and'19 by the British, An
additional 35were destroyed on the ground.Incomplete returns
disclosed fo urAllied medium and light bombersand 28 fighters
missing.Countian FiguresIn Auto Collision
Two automobiles were badlywrecked about 6 o'clock last Thurs-day
evening w h e n they collided fivemiles north of Taneytown on
Route71. None of the occupants was in-jured , but both machines
were dam-aged to the extent of $800, Marylandstate police
reported.Acco rding to Sgt. J. K. Cushwa,wh o investigated, the car
of JohnPaul Koontz, Taneytown, operatedby Chester M. Car tzendafner
, 26 ,Taneytown, crashed into one travel-ing in the opposite
direction drivenby Marvin W. Margret, 18, Littles-to wn. Cushwa
said Cartzendafnerattempted to pass another automo-bile and
collided with the Margretcar. which is owned by Frank Mar-gre t ,
Littlestown.Carmen Aust in and Shirley Rhine-hart, passengers in
the Cartzendaf-ner machine, were unhurt. Bothdrivers are charged
with recklessdriving and will be given hearingsbefore Magistrate J.
Vincent Tub-man in Taneytown on March 2 at7:30 o'clock.
G R A D U A T E S A T B A L T I M O R EMiss Jean Goldcisen,
daughter ofMr. and Mrs. Cordt Golclelsen, Bal-timore, and
granddaughter of Mrs.Amanda Lau, East Berlin, recentlygraduated f
ro m Western high school,Baltimore.A R R I V E S I N M A R I A N A
SM r s . Maurice E. Harmon, Breck-enridge street, has received
wordher husband, S 1-c Harmon, has ar-rived safely In the M*rin*
Island*.
Some 60 miles below the Cologneplain battle, the American
ThirdArmy in a swift seven-mile sprintreached, the Nims river near
Bitburgand outflanked the ancient fortresscity of Trier. The gain
carried fivemiles into the Siegfried, past theSaar river town of
Saarburg. TheCanadian First Army applied heavierpressure on the
Ruhr from the north,Ten-Mile AdvanceThe Ninth Army in advances
ofthree to five miles threw a tightcordon on three sidesof the
bristlingcommunications center of Erkelenz.Advance Ninth Army
elementsapproached Kaulhausen, six milesfrom Muenchen Gladbach and
tenmiles northeast of then- startingpoint at Linnich. Kaulhausen is
eastof Erkelenz and within easy artilleryrange of that section of
the Ruhrindustrial district which slopes overwest of the Rhine.
MuenchenGladbach. is the first Ruhr cityIn the American path.
:~East of Juelich, Ninth Army troopsreached Titz. Elsewhere, the
Amer-ican infantrymen were advancing asrapidly as they could walk,
agaitistonly sporadic resistance. The Ger-mans, however, were
spotted rushingtroops toward imminently ImperiledCologne, Germany's
fifth largestcity, which lies on the west bankof the Rhine.
Most Devastated CityFirst Army troops of Lt. Gen.Courtney H.
Hodges surged closestto Cologne, a city of 768,000 whichis
described officially as the mostdevastated city in all the
Rhineland.The nearest approach was beyondthe villages of
Morchenick, Gloz-heim, Birblerath and Rommelsheim,all captured in
night attacks. FirstArmy troops fought into Frauwullu-sheim and
beyond Drove.The Americans were seven milespast Dueren, which was
cleared outyesterday, and swiftly approachingthe Erft river.Tanks
strcamtd across the Roerbridges to power the attacks of theAmerican
Ninth and First Annies ,which the Germans said were using40
divisions or up to 600,000 men.The great Ruhr and Rhinelandcity of
Ducsseldorf, with a popula-tion of 540,000, was less than 20 milesf
ro m the Ninth Army. Lt. Gen. Wil-liam H. Sin-closed within a mile
of the heavilyfortified communications center ofErkelenz and nine
of the f r inge ofthe Ruhr industrial region andMeunchen Gladbach,
a city of 127,-00. 26 Mi l e s I n s i d e GermanyTh e Americans fo
ught 26 mlle;sdeep in Germany and less than f ou rmiles f ro m the
Er ft river where f iveGerman divisions offering "light tomoderate
resistance" on the Cologneplain were expected to make a su-preme
stand to bar the Americansf ro m the -Rhine.South of the Co logne
plain, theAmer ican Third A r m y broke into arun in advances of
seven miles whichcarried the Fourth Armored Divisionto the Nims
river in the vicinity ofthe fortified center of Bitburg. Adozen or
more towns fell to Lt. Gen.George S. Patton's troops sweepingtoward
Kob lenz on the middle Rhine.Third Army, units mo ved wi thintwo
miles southwest of Bitburg. Inan advance in the Siegfried line
fivemiles beyond the captured Saar riverstronghold of Saarburg, the
ThirdArmy o ut f lanked the great bastionof Trier by reaching a
point tenmiles to the southeast.North of th e Col og n e p l a i n
, F i e l dMar sh a l Mon tg ome r y i n t e n s i f i e d hi
sattacks b e h i n d the b r e ac h e d Sieg-f r i e d line an d
moved hl C a n a d i a nFirst A r m y wi th i n 1,000 ya rd* of th
estoutly defended town of Calcar , twom i l e s from th e receding
Rhine.Ovtr-nlfht advances were up to a m i l e and* half. Thaw
forces wtra 4ft 0tU*snorth at the Ninth Armytoward the Ruhr, fa r
andawmr CWnaMoy't frtstwt amtMl.
