ONE REMAINING RIVER BARRIER BETWEEN ALLIES AND BERLIN

Highlander, Volume 1, Issue 12, 13 April 1945, Page 1

ONE REMAINING RIVER BARRIER BETWEEN ALLIES AND BERLIN

More than a dozen armoured columns of the American 9th, Ist and 3rd Armies are sweeping to the Elbe, the last river barrier before Berlin. -

In one day some of their tanks made a more than 50 mile dash, and infantry are reported to be following closely. Air observers report that the German resistance is in confusion 1 with traffic choking the roads in all directions. In one instance panzers which were urgently needed were stopped on the ! road through lack of petrol.

The vanguard of the tank thrust has been reported at Madgeburg. an hour-and-a-half motor run from Berlin. In Brunswick fighting is going on in the centre of the city. 7th Army forces are at Nuremburg, Ist Army forces are in the Black Forest area, and glider landings are reported at Weimar. In the Ruhr pocket 43.000 prisoners have already been taken.

The British 2nd Army has crossed the river barrier before Bremen at several points and the outer defence line has been breached. German reports state that General Dempsey has launched a full-scale assault on the port.

Some observers say the Germans may pull back to a line running from Bremen to Emden

and try to hold it in the hope of preventing a sweep into the North German plain.