GERMAN REPORTS OF FURTHER LANDINGS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 134, 8 June 1944, Page 5

GERMAN REPORTS OF FURTHER LANDINGS

BATTLE OF RAILWAYS

Montgomery Shifts Main Weight Of Action

>T.Z. Press Association —Copyright

Rec. 1 p.m. LONDON, June 7. The battle of the railways would appear to be following the battle of the beaches in the invasion area, according to German sources, which indicate Allied operations on important' communication lines. Jhe German .news agency says General Montgomery has . shifted the main weight of his action towards Chetbourg Peninsula. Airborne formations, about one division strong, have come into action on the west coast in the area north of Coutances. They have been given the task ot chopping off the peninsula towards the south. They supplement an American airborne formation which is offering tenacious resistance Between Carentan and St. Mere Eglise, on the east side of the peninsula. The German war reporter said that about 300 Allied Pj an es were used to land troops on the western side of the peninsula The landing actually occurred between Lessay and Coutances. Other P a^ c hute landings occurred on the eastern coast in the neighbourhood of Trouville. , . ... evSfnf e anno n uS S Alljcf airborne landings in the Fateise-Argenton area, about 20 miles south of Caen and added that landings advanced with infantry and troops on cycFes Thesp nlaces lie some 30 ana 4U miles respectively inland from the coast on the road running south-east from Caen and the landings would mean the' deepest airborne penetration yet reported.

German Attacks Repulsed Allied troops, according to Reuters correspondent at an advance command post,. re P^ se^ G n™ea The nt German war reporter earlier stated over Berlin radio that a gn.n battle was raging "i <gen an^ fh\ d aua°cl n fecial German ments had been hurled against tne enemy.

The German overseas news agency admitted that British tank formations from their Orne bridgehead had driven forward south-west towards Bayeux, but claimed that they had not yet been able to reach that town.

The news agency added that in the interior bridgehead many German strong points—bunkers in which there are German defenders manning machine-guns—are still holding out against incessant attacks from British and Canadian forces and against fire from British and American battleships. The war reporter stated that a German formation smashed through British beachhead positions on the eastern bank of the Orne and liberated the encircled garrison of the German stronghold, which had held out for 30 hours against numerous enemy attacks. Another reporter stated that the glare of the invasion battle in Caen region could be seen for many miles last night. "We could see the town of Caen and the villages devoured by fire, burning like blazing torches," he stated. A strong fleet of Allied landing craft and light warships this morning attempted to establish another beachhead east of Cap de la Hague, on the north-west tip of Cherbourg peninsula, stated Berlin radio. Furious fire from German batteries, in which landing vessels were directly hit, forced the formation to turn away behind a smoke screen. Three troop-carrying craft were sunk and several tank carriers set on fire. The radio also claimed that an Allied attempt to land off Le Havre to-day was repulsed and added that German quarters estimate that between two and five more Allied divisions landed on the French coast during Tuesday night. Vichy radio referred to two airborne divisions landing on both sides of the Carentan-Valognes road and said that they established a small corridor to the coast through which reinforcements were pouring in.