Bombs, Shells Shake Earth As Yanks Pierce Westwall



Bombs, Shells Shake Earth As Yanks Pierce Westwall

By DREW MIDDLETON

By Wireless to The New York Times.

WITH THE AMERICAN FIRST ARMY, In Germany, East of Heerlen, the Netherlands, Oct. 2 – After a violent bombardment by scores of the heaviest guns and hundreds of medium bombers and fighter-bombers, a bombardment that shook the sodden earth for ten miles around, a strong force of American infantrymen rose from their foxholes and poured across the Wurm River into Germany to begin a new and inherently important assault on the Siegfried Line this morning.

All day the battle-line rolled slowly forward in the face of sudden bursts of German machine-gun and rifle fire, over countryside where huge slag heaps and tall factory chimneys contrasted queerly with rolling green meadows and heavily wooded hills. By late afternoon the Americans had advanced two miles at the deepest point and, in some places, they were in the first line of the German defenses. While heavy guns spoke from the wooded hills the infantry prepared to assault the second and more formidable line of defenses.

As the evening shadows lengthened under the cold blue sky one could see great geysers of earth and rock, torn up by our shells as they landed in the German positions around the rear pillboxes, and the almost cheerful twinkle of mortar shells exploding in a wood where the enemy was holding up our infantry. Over muddy fields and down long straight roads the Americans hurried, while here and there the snout of a supporting Sherman tank pushed forward to eliminate some German machine-gun nests troubling the infantry.

Today’s attack, which was launched from the Netherlands was not in great strength in this sector. Although it was initially successful, it is too early to call it a break-through.

In a tactical situation like that in which the First Army now finds itself however each success forms part of a foundation on which really important victories can later be won. Today’s attack did break the lull that had prevailed in this sector of the First Army’s front since Sept. 21 and, if the splendid autumn weather of this afternoon continues, the pace of the fighting throughout this Army’s sector my be accelerated.

To the north, an armored unit is fighting around Overloon and is 3.000 yards west of the Meuse River after having attacked at dawn today. Between this unit and the forces engaged around Rimburg and Palenberg toady, an armored cavalry force is harrying enemy positions around the German town of Havert, northeast of Sittard.

The most important assault, however, was that across the Wurm, a battle fought in country much like that of southern New Hampshire. Throughout the sunny afternoon, as the Americans drove the Germans back into the Reich, the combat flowed through little towns where women marketed and children played, oblivious to the battle except when the fighting was at its height. It was not uncommon to see women and children walking the streets a mile or even a half mile from the front while shells whistled overhead.

The air assault that preceded the infantry attack suffered somewhat in efficiency because of the weather conditions. It was effective enough in some areas but in other sectors the German positions appeared to have escaped lightly. Some 350 medium bombers were employed, followed by more than 100 fighter-bombers. The fighter-bombers, which swept in after the mediums had made their attack, appeared to have bombed more effectively, although the latters’ assault was by far the more spectacular. Palenberg and Merkstein were heavily pounded.

As the bombers sped homeward silver in the sun, the guns began to slam. The whole landscape seemed alive with the winking flashes from their muzzles and when the big 240-mm. weapons fired, the sound hit one on the chest like the blow of a fist. The sun was shining through puffy clouds and from a vantage point one could see eruptions of earth as the big shells plowed into the German defenses.

Under the cover of this bombardment, the infantry started to move. It is always impressive to see how efficiently and unspectacularly Americans go into battle. An officer looks at his watch and says: “Let’s go,” and the lean lines move forward. In history they take their place as soldiers of one of the great armies of the war. Now, in the moment before their ultimate trail, they are just men grumbling and marching, fighting and dying.

The Wurm River, which forms the border between the Netherlands and Germany at this point, was the first obstacle. Machine-gun bullets were beginning to sing in the air as the first soldiers slid down its six-to-seven-foot west bank and waded through the icy waist-deep water at 11:40 A.M.. It is only about twelve feet wide at this point, but the mud sucked at and clung to the infantrymens’ shoes. They crossed, clambered up the other bank into Germany as the German fire increased, and met the second obstacle, a belt of barbed wire 100 yards east of the river.

The guns had ripped great gaps in the wire and wire-cutters, profanely but efficiently handled, did the rest. A hundred yard beyond was a railroad, and the infantry was moving faster now as the men kicked the mud from their shoes and went across it. Here and there a man went down and, once in a while, two or three fell when a mortar shell burst or a machine-gun found them.

Scattered artillery fire began to ripple along the German front. Still the Americans moved forward.

Now the forward files were in among the pillboxes in the heart of the first German defenses. In many cases the Germans had not occupied the pillboxes which were targets for our artillery fire, but had dug in around them, bringing heavy small-arms fire to bear on the infantry attacking the “decoy” pillboxes.

Other pillboxes spat fire as the infantry approached. Through glasses, one could see lines of tracers streaking toward the embrasures and, now and then, a puff of white phosphorus as a mortar or a gun hit its target.

The mortar and machine-gun fire began to cut down the Germans outside the pillboxes. Soon the Americans were pushing slowly on into the open country beyond the first-line pillboxes. From the west, we could hear the big guns speak as they threw their shells toward this new obstacle.

The second line of pillboxes, still part of the Siegfried line, was situated on a ridge running roughly parallel to the river and the railroad. There were some pillboxes in the country between, but these did not seem to be heavily held. No “dragons’ teeth“ have yet been encountered in this sector of the attack.

By mid-afternoon a brisk fight was raging in the woods southeast of Rimburg. The cleverly masked German positions gave the infantry plenty of trouble and it was not until a concentration of fire from a mortar platoon had been brought down that the infantry could go forward to assault the enemy positions with grenades and rifle fire. While this attack was progressing in what seemed to be an unusually lightly held area the enemy was bolstering his defenses around Aachen. Old tanks are being made into pillboxes and the corridors of the coal mines around the city are being transformed into supply depots for the garrison.

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