NAZI GARRISON AT LE HAVRE GIVES IN

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 217, 13 September 1944, Page 5

NAZI GARRISON AT LE HAVRE GIVES IN

36-HOUR ASSAULT

Surrender To British

Troops

Rec. noon. LONDON, Sept. 12. The German garrison at Le Havre surrendered to British troops of General Crerar's force at 11.30 to-day. rhe German commander had been badly wounded, and his deputy surrendered the garrison, ordering the : troops to lay down Jheir arms. The capitulation came 36 hours after the all-out assault began. Reuters correspondent says the British earlier to-day battled against heavy resistance and fought into the city from the north-east, and after fighting their way through the streets reached the dock area. Over 3000 of the German garrison were then captured and the rest suffered heavy casualties from bombing and shelling. Other British troops, north of Le Havre, have driven to the sea at Cap de la Havre and captured coastal gun positions in the area of Octeville, a few miles north of Le Havre. The British 49th Infantry Division, which was driven from Norway in 1940, after which it spent many months' vigil in Iceland, received the surrender of the German garrison, says Reuters correspondent with the First Canadian Army. The 49th. following flail tanks and crocodile flamethrowers, fought their way to high ground overlooking Le Havre yesterday and then drove into the city and its inner defences. A British officer said that his men encountered every type of obstacle known to man. but the advance could not be stopped. They fought from street to street and reached the city's vast dock areas. Other units of the First Canadian Army, meanwhile, continued tne advance into Belgium. Polish armour had driven eastward and joined the British in Ghent area. Canadian infantry and armour thrusting north-east towards the west bank of the Scheldt are now five miles from the Dutch border. Canadians are also besieging Boulogne, Calais and Dunkirk and heavy gun emplacements at Cap Grisnez.