STREET BATTLE IN BREST

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24365, 18 September 1944, Page 5

STREET BATTLE IN BREST

'PART OF TOWN CLEAR (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 17. Street fighting continues in Brest, according to a correspondent at Supreme Allied Headquarters. “House by house and street by street American infantrymen are having to fight for the town of Brest, which, though bomb-battered, is still holding out,” said an earlier report by a correspondent with the American forces. “Half the town has been cleared from the southern approach, but mines and booby traps impede progress.” The correspondent described fierce hand-to-hand fighting between buildings, and said it was difficult to say exactly where the front line was. so closely were the forces interlocked. “In the background the great fires of Brest still burn, and huge columns of smoke billow into the sky like a volcano in eruption.” said the correspondent. General Ramcke, commander of the Brest fortress, in a message to Hitler, broadcast bv the Berlin radio, said:— “The battle has reached a climax. The enemy has destroyed all the fortifications. and the garrison is fighting among the ruins, where fires are ragin£» “All ships have been scuttled and installations destroyed. The invaders will find only ruins. “We have only a few guns left. ALLIES ENTER MODANE FRENCHITALIAN RAIL LINK (Rec 11 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 17. Allied forces of the 7th Army have entered the town of Modane, at the western entrance of the tunnel which links France and northern Italy.