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MAGDEBURCFALLS TO US NINTH ARMY
Leipzig Doomed :Nuremberg Burns
BRITISH 10 MILES FROM HAMBURGI
SHAEF, Thursday.-- Spectacular successes by the Allied armies are reported from
all sectors of the western front. After a bitter 48-hour battle, Magdeburg fell to
the Ninth Army late yesterday. Hodg es' First Army tanks and motorised infantry
have almost cleared Leipzig, and 150 miles to the south-west Nuremberg is in
flames as Nazi stormtroops make a I ,st-ditch stand. The famous 7th and 11 Arm
oured Divisions of Montgomery's Second Army have reached points 10 miles from
Hamburg, Polishr troops are inside Emden, Bremen is under close siege, and Can
adian armoured columns were last reported 20 miles from Amsterdam.
" Unofficial reports claim that US
First Army motorised patrols which
by-passed Leipzig are only 40 miles
from . Marshal Konieir's armoured
columns in the Finsterwalde sector,
50 miles south of Berlin, and that
a link-up will be made within, the
next three days.
Allied bombing and long-range
.artillery. fire were so accurate' and
- devastating that when Ninth Army
infantry, armed with flame-throwers,
tommy-guns, and mortars began
the main assault on Magdeburg, they
took the great city within 48 hours.
American losses were slight, com
pared with the heavy German casual
ties. Ninth Army men have extended
theirf bridgehead over the Elbe, 15
miles south of Magdeburg. and are
massing for another attack. They now
control 80 miles of the west bank of
the Elbe on either side of Magdeburg.
Three armoured columns of the First
Army are driving deep into the heart
of Leipzig. and the fall of the city is
imminent. Unofficial reports claim that
the city has been captured, but SHAEF
still reports bitter street battles.
Rioting and looting are believed to
have broken out.
Armoured columns which swept past
Leipzig have been reported only 40
miles from Koniev's spearheads, about
50 miles south of Berlin.
Third Army tank columns which
penetrated Nazi defences and crossed
into Czechoslovakia are now three.
miles inside the frontier.
Spearheads are reported' to have
reached the old Czech fortifications
modelled on the Maginot Line. now
manned by Germans who will soon be
sandwiched between Patton's powerful
columns and Marshal Malinovsky's
armies from the east.
About 150 miles south-west of Leip
zig, US Seventh Army " troops have
stormed and , captured' more than -two
thirds of Nuremberg. The. Nazi Com
mandant ' promised Hitler *a last-ditch
stand ' in. the 'city, and: stormtroops
fought back fanatically from rooftops
and houses,. Unofficial: reports claim
that the city has :fallen to the Ameri
cans.
French First 'Army 'troops have
gained more ground near'- Stuttgart.
British tanks were last reported only
10 miles from Hamburg. Germany's
greatest port. Armoured columns of
the 7th and 11th Divisions are now set
for the death-blow.
Luneberg has been captured, and the
Hamburg-Bremen highway cut.
Other British columns are massed .in
a narrow semi-circle south of Bremen,
and fanatidal eounter-rittacks by the
Germans have been beaten off. Polish
troops are encountering fierce opposi
tion from Nazi paratroops and marines
inside the port of Emden.
Canadian First Army men` in Hol
land have reached a point 'only 20
miles from Amsterdam, and have in
creased their threat to Rotterdam
and The. Hague.
Miles of flooded lowlarinds lie between
the Canadians and Amsterdam. and
amphibious craft have been rushed up
to Carry on the -attack before the
trapped Germans can sort out, their
confused divisions.
Harderwijk, on the Zuider. Zee, has
been captured.
The last 'Germani pockets of resist
ance in what was once the Ruhr poc
ket are being annihilated, by US- First
and Ninth Army tanks and infantry.
French. troops have alrgost cleared
the northern banks of the Gironde es
tuary, and have taken 6000 prisoners..
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