COAST DEFENCES PIERCED

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24280, 10 June 1944, Page 5

COAST DEFENCES PIERCED

ACCOUNTS BY WAR CORRESPONDENTS “AIR UMBRELLA SAVED US ” (Rec. 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, June 8. “Our men were so tired last night after fighting all day that they lay down beside dead Germans , and dead comrades and slept,” says a British United Press correspondent (Richard McMillan), who is with advanced Allied forces in France. “Long lines of German prisoners are now moving back. "We drove right through the German defences, mowing down the pillbox crews. They are lying by their guns which are 50-millimetre weapons and not very formidable.” McMillan says the Germans staked all their cards on a landing over the short 21-mile stretch between Dover and Calais. The Allies took the longer route and caught the enemy napping. The havoc wrought by the Allied bom-

bardment from sea and air could be seen in the coasthl belt. The bombardments wrecked some roads, and many hamlets which the Germans used as headquarters. The people of Bayeux greeted the Allied troops with cheers and cries of “God save the King” and “On to Paris.” A Combined Press correspondent (Henry Buckley), in a dispatch from Bayeux, says enemy snipers sometimes surrendered easily. A British officer had just selected a camp site for his unit when he was confronted at close quarters by two Germans who rose from a ditch, levelling their rifles at him. The officer, who was unarmed, roared: “Put down those guns and come along with me.” The Germans quietly handed over their rifles. Position Improved “The situation this morning was much better in our sector than Jast night,” says an official observer of the Combined Press, writing from a dugout near Caen. “There is no doubt that the air umbrella saved us from what might have been a really untenable situation. We have never, for a moment, been without an air patrol overhead. Evidence of the work that our bombers and fighter-bombers have done along the coast and inland is most cheering.” “We have taken a fairly large number of prisoners, including two staff officers, who, with 50 of their men, have just given themselves up. The officers, generally, are cocksure and the men are either disconsolate or just not caring A batch of prisoners seen on a road, whose average age was about 20. did not look very sorry to be out of the war. ~ . „ “Our tanks are rapidly widening the great bulge inside the Atlantic Wall, writes a correspondent ot the British United Press with the invading forces. “I have just completed a tout of the front line covering nearly 30 miles, including captured towns and villages. What surprised me most was the weakness of the German defence line. “I examined with great care the socalled Atlantic Wall along this coast It constitutes the biggest bluff of the war, for it simply does not exist Some prisoners told me that the Germ had been frantically trying to complete their defences, but the task was too vast for them. “The Germans sought to hold us m the region of Caen and Bayeux but our tanks are in greater force. It is evident, as the battle develops, that the Germans are doing their utmost to recover from their initial surprise. A correspondent reported that strong German forces met the Allied troops at the very edge of the sand. and at every stage of the road inland. The country bristled with mgchm ? -gun nests, stremgposts, field guns, and mortars The French fields were thickly sown with mines, forcing the Allied troops to clear the roads. Once inland, the troops paradoxically saw villagers standing by the roadways to watch or cheer and sometimes leapi„„ or cutting capers ihey had nothing to give .the advancing tank men except gratitude, and the troops flung them chocolate and cigarettes, and somehow within a few hours of the landing, every French boy seemed to have a British badge on his beiet, and every girl had one on her blouse.

other lying on its side, and bulky “rhino” ferries and their stores of important heavy tools bogged down in the sand. Some had been blown up to free the landing areas. “Stress is laid on the very formidable nature of the beach obstacles which confronted our first landing troops, and their removal necessitated tremendous efforts. There is no plain sailing in this task. Allied troops, from the moment they stepped ashore, have had a , most arduous time. The stage has now been reached where the preliminary, strain pf seasickness, discomfort, lack of sleep, and heavy fighting have all told their tale, and it has called for stupendous efforts on the part of our troops to maintain the momentum of their .attack.

“Minesweepers have steadily continued operations off the invasion coast, and many of the channels have been considerably widened. More beach obstacles have been removed. The weather is now definitely improving over the beachhead area, and there has been considerable air activity over the assault area. No reports of any damage from the enemy force of E-boats, which attempted to interfere with the supply stream, has been received.” HARDEST TASKS AHEAD ATLANTIC WALL NOT BREACHED NEW YORK, June 8. “The Allied troops have not yet breached Hitler’s Atlantic Wall,” states Lowell Thomas, correspondent of the New York “Daily News.” “At present we are fighting only the German Army advance guards. This fact does not seem to be generally understood by the public, and it is worrying military men. “Too many people believe that we broke through the Atlantic Wall when we landed in Normandy, but the Atlantic Wall still stands between us and Paris. We have not breached it nor have we parachuted over it. In fact, our commanders expect that we will meet a lot more Germans before we reach these main defences. “The Atlantic Walls extends from the vicinity of Nantes and follows the Loire river to near Angers. Then it goes north-east to Le Mans and northeast past Paris to St. Quentin, near the Belgian border. The wall is protected by stretches of water, minefields and fortifications, and it is backed up by many squadrons of German tanks. “It is clear that we did not win an overwhelming victory when we fought our way ashore. Nobody expected the main German armies to be waiting for us on the beaches.” “The Nazi High Command is undoubtedly just beginning to move its mobile reserves,” said the United States Secretary of War (Mr H. L. Stimson) at a press conference. “We must look for the full fury of savage counter-attacks at an early moment.” BIG BATTLE FORECAST FIGHTER-BOMBERS AGAINST TANKS (Rec. 7 p.in.) LONDON. June 8. The aviation correspondent of the British United Press states that a big battle is likely in northern France—a battle, between tanks and fighterbombers. “It will be a 1 battle to the death,” he added. “Allied pilots report having seen tank columns moving to the beachheads in the last 24 hours. Thunderbolls claimed, half of one column. Between 75 to 100 tanks were destroyed. Allied fighter-bombers are really flying artillery. With complete air superiority in our hands, we may soon see the right answer to the tank. Military minds have been looking for it for '3O years.”