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BEWILDERED GERMANS
Refugees Are Passed on the Roads
by Advancing Armour
PRISONERS ARE JUST ORDERED
TO MARCH TO THE REAR
LONDON, Thursday: British tanks, with British andAmerican infantrymen rid
ing on them, have begun a great pursuit.of the defeated (Germans into-the-heart-of,the
Reich, say correspondents with-the armoured spearheads. .
They arc turningaside the scattered, bewildered resistance, halting only. no;nentarily in order to clear
a. town or subdue stubborn pockets. , .. .
One, officer, describing the area cast'from Bocholt,naid: lcountry is swasming .itlstraying
. soldiers." , . '
. Cbrrespondeits arepermitted onlynt- say.that.the al-morn-.andifantry;areone and a half iniles froin'
* Borken;have captured Dorstein and "mechanised units haye. gone o.n" -Where, .:. how (ar they have gone, is.not
disclosed. ' . '
S"The German civilians are absolutely bewildered .by, the. swift, pace,.of events, .says: the .American.Associated Press corresipond
ent ,with the advanced armour. Many of. them .have been found on the roadside, where they had begun the journey inland, only, to, be
.overtaken by British tanks. Tanks from the Sixth Guards Armoured Brigade lead one spearhead, carrying with them troops from the
-American 17thAirborne Division. They are-finding-the road strewn with enemy -vehicles..and.guns, most of them damaged,'but
others just abandoned. They are as numerous as the equipment; the Germans left behind in the retreat from the Falaiso Gap.
Prisoners are being sent,:back on. their own after disarming. No ,one has. time to bothdr with them:
THE SWANNTNG SEASON HAS OPENED IN GERMANY
LONDON, Thursday: Nobody
can asy .to-night where Mont
gomery's tank division has got to,
states' the- Daily Express corre
spondent at Mbntgomery's Head
quarters.
There is a complete absence of
resistance on 'the . 20-mile front
between Bocholt.and Dorstein and
through that gap our tanks have
gone. The road to.Munster .and
Osnabruchl and Hanover is open
and we are moving along itiat.a
cracking pace. .The army has. the
word for it. They call it swanning.
When a man. takes off into the
blue or simply disappears - from
view, thit is. swanning. -
A senior officer., last night
-summed - up . the military
_situation: "'Gentlemenl The
swanning season-has opened."
-Correspondents at t .'actical Air
Force Headquarters say that
pilots returning from flights over
the German front report a general
retreat opposite Montgomery's
forces. The pilots state that the
retreat in many areas has the
appearance of.a rout with enemy
columns fleeing helter-skelter. to.
the east. The German radio broke
into a programme yesterday to
announce ,that the British spear
.heads were held in the area of,
Minden, 110 miles north-east from
Wesel,'and under 200 miles from
?Berlin.
Tile British and Americans are
attacking with a tremendous
array of men and material to the
north-east and the south, says the
German Newsagencyi
"Never before have so many
tanks been employed,"' says the
Newsagency.. "Bombers and
battle-planes attack incessantly."
The Ninth Army has captured
Hamborn, says the British United
Press and-the Third Army has
talken Wiesbaden. :
'The news that the First Army
ftanks, after a 15-mile dash, had
reached Glessen, was followed
lastunight by;a report from Third
A.rmy correspondents that the
Fourth Armoured .Division, ad-'
vanclng 27 milbs in 10 hours,
reached a point six miles.south
east of Giessen and a junction of
Hedge's and Patton's armour can
be expected.
The Fourth Armoured Divi
sion's latest whirlwind drive over
shadows Patton's. capture of
W?iesbaden.
The Third Army tanks scatter
resistance mainly, from'mines and
road blocks. Another column from
the ' Fourth Armoured :Division
advanced five and 'a half miles
and reached an area 19' miles
south-east from Giessen.. The
American ?Associated' Press:states
that General Bradley sent a
strong armoured column from the
First Army sector into the Third
Army area in order to speed up
Patton's. advance.
The ExchangelTelcgraph's cor
respondent with the-British Arm
oured- units says- that armoured
commanders throughout.the. day
have . been .reporting: '"Have
reached."--- (giving the code
reference of the town. or village)
and "there is ' no sign :of . the
enemy."
Succasionany tney. report en
counteringa;. few mines or. are
leaving 'the -roadway owing to:
demolitions, but generally it .has
been nothing but motor touring.
WHITE FLAGS UP AT
. MUNSTER
,LONDON, Thursday:, Luxem
bourg' radio says. thlat Montgom
cry s tanks on W\Vednesday 'night
ppeedily advanced towards Munster
lwhich was already -while flagged,
according . to reports . from Allied
pilots.
S;Thb radio added' that General
Hodge's tanks 'ari +advancing - to
,wards tihe" north, cast' line io Orto
bahn frohi Geissin and Kassek'. . '
General Patton's advance troops
are speeding through northeirn Bayv-"
aria. '
i Big:news is expected hourly- from
the British sector. 'Allied tanks are
racing *on so far ahead that head
quarters are meeting difficulties in
keeping up with" them. .
SMaps 'are being- changed, every,
hour. : . '., ' .
..'arth:r downtlhe U.S. tanks are
Iranging far afield. It is reported that
Patton' s armou'rd.'divisions-are half
,way across .while prisoners are com
ing: back .in greatinunibers.;
I.n . Manhattan, swaink Shirtmaker
Clyde offered . en's shorts faih
iond of a: new mnate'ial camou
flage cloth. -
$