TRAIN OF GLIDERS

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

TRAIN OF GLIDERS

FIFTY MILES LONG Allied Warning Against Over Optimism N.Z. Press Association—Copyright Eec. 9.30 a.m. LONDON, June 7. The Eighth Air Force announced that a 50-mile long train of gliders, towed by transport planes, reinforced positions on the Cherbourg Peninsula early to-day. The official spokesman at SHAEF disclosed that the early reports of light resistance actually were confined to the period immediately preceding the landings. As soon as the Allied spearheads hit the beaches, they met stiff opposition. The spokesman deprecated the tendency towards over-optimism. The captain of one of the torpedo boats in the invasion forces said that as the Allied landing fleet moved toward the French coast Allied bombers hammered the beaches furiously for three hours. Incendiaries poured down like rain. The Germans sent up star shells, which lit up the beach. Then they tried to knock out our planes with rockets, which spiralled up, leaving a trail like a Roman candle. Single Air Attack Plan Every Allied aircraft engaged in the assault operated in accordance with a single plan under the single control of Air Chief-Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, giving, according to SHAEF, a combination of strength and flexibility whereby alone air power's potentialities can be fully realised. Thus a vast force of aircraft of all types struck with great power. Bomber Command used more than 1000 heavy bombers last night in attacks against roads and railways between 15 and 40 miles behind the beachheads. The object was to block and delay the reinforcements the enemy is expected to bring up by every possible means of transport. A United States Air Force communique says that in yesterday's operations against the invasion coast, lasting from dawn until dusk, the United States Eighth Air Force destroyed 30 enemy planes for the loss of five bombers and 25 fighters. Enemy air resistance was weak and in some places non-existent. The anti-aircraft fire also was generally meagre, but one formation encountered a heavy rocket barrage. The United States Ninth Air Force losses yesterday were three Marauders, two Havocs, eight fighter-bombers and 15 troop-carriers.