European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 7, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Everything for the front the 195 s s for the front dont shortstop this newspaper behind the line doily newspaper of armed european Heafer of operations 1 new 1 1945 n air might aids reds 2 soviet armies Force Oder River foe stiffen line inside West Wall nazi resistance stiffened a the Battle for the Siegfried line raged near its Clima last night along a 25mile de sense arc Between the inne West Wall bastions of be Nind and German picked up by the Mutual broadcasting in the said that Ger nans expected action hourly on the ninth army othe nazi radio reports heard in London predicted Allied offensive in the synchronized with russian attacks in the would not b Long frontline correspondents report that elements of the firs and third armies had pierced the main Siegfried line defences Nea Gemund and Prum still lacked confirmation at supreme head quarters Public relations division last stars and stripes corresponded Russell Jones with the first army said elements of both the 78th and ninth had Fough through the formal Barrier in Thi Northern sector of the heavy defences still confront them third army forces burs the main Siegfried defences a Northwest of Prum but were battling heavy counter attacks there at last resistance stiffens first army second and ninth neared the Naz communications centers of Schlei Den and where German resistance stiffening along a seven mile the second 38th regt battled renewed nazi counter thrusts in three Miles Southwest of other infantry advanced Yards to the Western outskirts of Schei Irin less than a mile Northwest of at Scheuring they hit a Cluster of German Strong Points which a part of the perimeter of the Eastern Siegfried line Belt Advance of the first army met a new obstacle which the germans had not melting snows were swelling the Olef River runs through the path of the american Advance Between the towns of Anc heavy Siegfried line defences were reported East of the swollen Olef which first army doughs have yet to North of the second ninth continued on Page 8 Bis own pro can Yon of it is pretty Busy around in fact Hes As Busy As a Man with hives having a coast coast epileptic his outlined in a recent letter Battery executive mess Supply of police and prison fire orientation Bond and insurance offi athletic utilities of chief of shelling report duty officer of the of Public relations Green wrote after seeing an item in the stars and stripes listing duties of another very Busy officer and asking if anyone could top i believe i wrote he also said Hes getting a Little by anxious for the War to whats the getting bored thaw or no thaw Bridges must go up the prevailing thaw on the Western front these Days int making things any easier for army engineers who Are rebuilding Bridges wrecked by the germans when they retreated into the Siegfried men of b of the 171st working Waist deep in erect a foundation on one of the Banks of a Stream swollen by melting forces Complete liberation of Manila 6 of Manila and More than prisoners from three years of japanese subjugation was proclaimed today by who chose a Day of Victory to give the reminder that Japan itself is our final the knockout blow was delivered by paratroopers of the Lith air borne who had made an Over night Advance of 35 Miles North Ward from tag Aytay they drove into Manila from the South As of the first and 37th who had won the Northern half of the smashed across the pasig River bar Rier and entered the Southern a Token Garrison which the japanese left in Manila was sur but still was resisting american troops steadily reduced the size of the and Macarthur said that destruction of the japanese units was the japanese had put the Torch to the cites business District and Manila firemen were virtually help less because there was no water enemy troops had wrecked pumping japs blast spans two of the four Bridges spanning the wide pasig River inside Manila were blown up by the one was the Concrete and steel Quezon Bridge and the other was the Ayala eight Hundred Allied prisoners of War and 550 civilian internees were Reed sunday from the Vermi infested Bil Stoid prison in he Center of which the philippine government had abandoned As a penal institution before the War these prisoners were set free by 37th troops not Long after first units had freed per sons from the Santo Tomas intern ment the Bilibio prison staff fled and Here was no fight at Santo i the japanese commander Oak 270 including prominent american business and held them until he had won Safe conduct for himself and 65 of his four thousand of the persons liberated in Manila were Ameri they included 69 nurses taken on Bataan and Corregidor in some of the nurses immediately began caring for american soldiers wounded in the Sharp fight ing at Santo japs were Cut off any japanese on Bataan were Cut off by american forces which won Complete control of the base of the Strong japanese forces in the Caya Gan of northeastern were sealed off when yank troops took san Jose and Balete american bombers pounded the Cavite naval Corregidor and enemy held Aird Romes South of a other planes attacked targets along the China coast and on for far to the Southwest of the Phi australian troops made another Landing of new moving closer to japanese troops on the Gazelle american bombers and russian armies worked together while two red armies were fighting across the Oder toward fleets of Britai based bombers smashed at the centers through which the germans could Rush reinforcements to the Eastern bombs crashed into great rail centers feeding nazi lines defending the approaches to heavies hit rail centers powerful eighth of bomber fleets yesterday swung into tactical warfare in direct sup port of the russian armies locked in Battle along the Oder River a column of forts and with a shield of 850 split three ways to mangle great rail centers in Leipzig and these three main Rai hubs of Central Germany feed trains to Berlin and the Wehr Machts Eastern line from the Saar the Ruhr and Industrial centers in the the Lockoff of these coupled with the choking off of silesian munitions by the would greatly reduce the Naz War Berlin still aflame the heavies thundered close to the charred nazi which stil was belching smoke from fires stoked by the bombs of Raf mosquitoes monday one of the biggest Railroad centers in the is 65 Miles Southwest of Ber Lin Leipzig is farther South and 30 Miles from the czech is 120 Miles from a few of today targets were bombed but others were attacked through storm Clouds that blacked out the View Only a few German planes were not a single bomber was escorting fighters shot up 16 Loco motives near Leipzig and raided a ammunition train and a troop they destroyed four nazi planes on two one plane tried to but was pounced on before it could get off the ninth hits rails behind West front american medium and fighter a bombers ended a 24hour bad weather pause yesterday with blows on nazi communications opposite the third and ninth and first French army ninth fighter bombers hurled explosives into 15 rail Yards and wrecked or damaged almost 300 rail cars and 283 motor mediums pounded an ammo dump and struck at the Berg Gladback vehicle depot near Cologne for the second time four the first tac of battered Ger Man communications in the Rhine splattering locomotive and rail cars and strafing marshalling Yards at end of one Start of another to 6 Macarthur said today that the fall of Manila Marks the end of one great phase of the Pacific struggle and sets the stage for shall not rest until enemy is completely said a statement by we do not count anything done As Long As anything remains to be we Are Well on our but Japan itself is our final with Australia the Philippines liberated and the ultimate redemption of the East indies and Malaya thereby made a our becomes on to we Are ready this Veteran and proven command when called May god Speed the Konies army gains 15 Miles two red armies yesterday forced the Oder River in strength on fronts 150 Miles apart and engaged the Ger mans in furious fighting beyond that last big water Barrier protecting the Reich marshal Stalin announced that marshal Ivan Konies first ukrainian army troops had smashed across the River Southeast of Breslau after breaking strongly fortified German positions on the West capturing six import ant communication towns in their first surge through enemy Konies troops last night had gained 15 Miles on a 50mile front in a push North toward the Bres Auberlin German declaring the Zero hour had arrived for Ber said that marshal Gregory Zhukov first White russian a posed for a frontal assault on the German held at least six Bridgehead at scattered sections Over the Oder on a 55 mile front from South of Frank Furt to a Point somewhere North West of reds in key cities suburbs official front line reports told of intense red artillery hammering at German positions on the Bank of the while red army storm troops fought bitter Battles in the suburbs of flaming Buestrin and cities of the Oder River official Moscow reports placed Zhukov troops less than 34 Miles from the German while enemy announcements said that the soviets were but 30 Miles heavy armoured Battles were raging into the third Day for the town of 15 Miles Northwest of Kues on the West Bank of the and at 14 Miles South of Frankfurt and also on the West Bank of the other engage continued on Page 8 Senate postpones vote on Roosevelt promotion 6 the Senate yesterday delayed for one week a vote on the promotion of Elliott Roosevelt to Briga Dier general on the grounds that they wanted More time to consider the advancement of the presidents 34yearold in doing the Senate also delayed the promotion of 77 other colonel to the delay was voted unanimously on the motion of majority Leader Alben Barkley after polite Par Nisan by play featured by references to the priority plane ride taken by Roosevelt Bull Mas 3star generals confirmed 6 the Senate has unanimously con armed the promotion of three officers to the rank of lieutenant they Are Leonard commanding general of the v corps William com manding of the ninth and commander the China Burma