GERMANY
LINEMAN of a Signal Corps construction battalion fastening wire to an insulator on the top of a telephone pole at Bingen on the Rhine (top). Liberated slave laborers help themselves to food and supplies in a store in Hannover (bottom). With the liberation of the slave laborers who had worked in German factories many problems arose, and Allied Military Government offices were established as quickly as possible to cope with them.
GERMANY
INFANTRYMEN AND TANKERS take time out for a short rest during their rapid advance. On 4 April the Ninth Army was to start an attack southward and the First U. S. Army was to drive to the north. While these two armies were eliminating the Ruhr pocket, the Fifteenth Army was to hold the line on the Rhine.
GERMANY
MACHINE GUNNERS of a First Army division covering a road intersection (top). Infantryman passes burning U. S. vehicles that were ambushed by enemy troops (bottom). During the first fighting in the Ruhr the enemy showed spirit. On 4 April ten counterattacks were launched in an attempt to break out of the pocket. Heavy fighting continued in many towns with the civilians fighting alongside German soldiers. Dug-in self-propelled guns supported the German infantry. The line was drawn tighter by the Allies and on 10 April Essen, home of the great Krupp armament works, was cleared by the U. S. assaulting troops. By 13 April the mopping-up stage had been reached.