European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 6, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse                                As soldiers civilians evacuate this frontline German the grim housewife at left still wears her apron and is carrying a loaf of the Speed of our Advance was almost As much of a Surprise to us As it was to the befuddled v by Ralph Martin yank staff correspondent with the ninth army at the a comfortable looking living bearded Doug feet were puffing on liberated German discussing interesting characteristics of the different women of the stretched out on a the platoon ser Geant was talking Over the he this is a very damned important i have a personal message from the citizens of the Bronx to Der fuehrer ring him i dont care How Busy he everyone in the room temporarily forgot the conversation about women and gathered around the the sergeant put the receiver in the Center of the group so that All could hear the excited German guttural of the Telephone when they finally stopped the ser Geant i guess they still dont know we took this the ninth army sweep from the Roer to the Rhine was so fast that the nazis didst know where we were coming from or where we were going or even where we As for it was like the Speed of it even excited some of the Battle weary Toonis Bill Mauldin fugitives from the Law of to the different Guys it was the to break the push up Southern the race to the smash across Sicily and the final phase of the tunisian they were All talking like this maybe this is maybe Well meet the russians in Berlin next maybe Well All be Home in a couple of in the cellar underneath the rubble of the general stared at a his face shining like a bridegrooms on his wedding look where they Are he pointing camouflaged ninth army tank destroyers move through the broken streets of to a Mark on the there 12 Miles in front of the he was talking about task Force Church of the 84th made up of Beaucoup tanks and truck loaded at 0700 that morning they took off and just kept whenever they bumped into any up fire from either they just de trucked some detoured some tanks to mop up and continued to move Forward As fast As they Only four hours they were away in front of ctn the map their push looked like a Skinny Long before the Day was the Skinny Finger had reached out and captured a rear Echelon German repple dapple Complete with personnel and More than 100 poking around the nazi the Finger also grabbed a whole enemy Fiel artillery the most indignant of All the nazi artillery officers was the it int he pro tested in you not supposed to capture this want supposed to be a but the front was it was sprawl ing like a fresh Ink As soon As the nazis would try to Rush reserves to one sore we would bust out somewhere then the whole front almost completely disintegrated into i am going nuts said an Arm waving my at the everybody asks me where this outfit is and where that outfit i dont even know where my own outfit one of the boys just passed through this morning and said they were and he didst know then he told about a buddy of his who had it even he was detailed to a guard Yard filled with several Hundred pcs then suddenly the detachment got orders to pull out and they forgot All about this later that afternoon the hungry my approached Horace Sutton of new and the 102d and said i dont know where my outfit i dont know if i am getting yank the army weekly 1945 any and i dont know what to do with All these can you help me prisoners poured in from Long convoys of trucks were packed with hundreds and hundreds of others walked Back carry ing their own occasionally a column of  yanks would pass by a backward marching column of some times there would be a stirring but every once in a while you could hear the Doug feet talk it up some of them Are just Lousy Why dont you Goose step you sons of and to think that they May Send some of those bastards Back to the Why dont they just keep them Here theres plenty of cities to just what is your opinion now of the general world Kraut almost refugees from All Over the world crowded together in the huge courtyard in All of them had been doing slave labor of one kind or another for the you Are now under the supervision of the american military said Eugene Hugo of we will feed you and take care of you until we Are Able to get you Back to your native he made his explanation in English and then translated it into German and the refugees just stood there As if they were listening to some great wonderful my finally one russian woman broke out Hys we have been waiting for this for four for four Erkelenz had been taken Only that morning but it was already so rear Echelon that the Only out fits in town by night were some quartermaster and service some pm boys were wander ing around in and out of cellars of some of the Hunting for liquid refreshment that might have been Over when they Stum bled onto a cellar full of sitting right next to the Jerries was a pile of unused hand the kidneys of the quartermaster boys Al most started functioning again then and but the germans Only wanted i vex of thes Feridy Stream of German being marched under guard to prisoners War Camps while the yanks were driving from the the