HELL LET LOOSE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 133, 7 June 1944, Page 5

HELL LET LOOSE

NAVY OPENS UP

COVERING OF LANDING

(By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright.) Rec. 9 a.m. LONDON, June 6. The bombardment from the Allied warships began as soon as dawn broke, according to a military observer who landed with the first wave. "It seemed as though hell itself was let loose," he said. "Our guns opened from right and left. From a vantage point at sea we saw the targets being pounded out of exist-ence,-as the assaulting infantry sailed slowly and surely to the shore. We saw wave after wave of khaki-clad figures swarm up the beaches and surge inland. Then the beach-masters and' beach parties went ashore and soon their organisation was complete. with vehicles, guns, and equipment trundling up the beaches. Other divisions were storming the beaches near us." The most difficult phase of the operation, the bridging of the last few hundred yards between the vessels and the beach, was accomplished largely through the use of the United States navy's modern pontoon gear. Plans had been made to the last detail, and the men trained to the last ounce and skilled in the use of the most modern weapons. At General Montgomery's command are picked troops of the United Nations. There will be mighty forces of armour at his disposal, and in his armoury are weapons which the Germans will have to face and fear for the first time.

Returning fighter pilots reported that the Allied infantry scrambled ashore on the French coast apparently without heavy opposition, while huge fleets of Allied warships covered the landing with a heavy bombardment. A pilot who led a squadron of Thunderbolts said: "Flying over the harbour at one port, I counted great, numbers of cruisers, destroyers, corvettes, and other craft. The flashes from their guns indicated that the beach was getting a heavy pounding.