 Taking up the advance again the next day, it immediately ran into stiff opposition from students of an SS "panzer" replacement training center located near Paderborn.Equipped with about 60 tanks, the students put up a fanatical resistance, stalling the American armor all day.When the task force failed to advance on 31 March, Maj. Gen. J. Lawton Collins, commander of the VII Corps, asked Simpson if his 9th Army, driving eastward north of the Ruhr, could provide assistance.