CAPTORS GIVE IN

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 217, 10 June 1944, Page 7

CAPTORS GIVE IN

Russians, Poles And Czechs (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.— Copyright.) (Received June 9, 10-5 p.m.) LONDON, June 9. An Allied glider officer and two infantry officers, after being captured on the Cherbourg Peninsula, persuaded their captors Io lay down their arms and without a blow or a shot, took a mixed bag of prisoners, consisting of 156 Russians, Poles and Czechs who had been conscripted into the Gorman Army, reports the British United Press correspondent at a troop-carrier base in England. The glider officer said: “At the German beadquarters I found an American infantry captain who had a smattering of Polish, and when we found that the majority of the enemy soldiers surrounding us were White Russians, Georgians, Czechs and Poles whom the Germans hud pressed into their army, we started talking to them‘They had been told that the Americans would slit their throats if they surrendered, and I assured them of good treatment. Shells from American artillery then began to get nearer and nearer. We talked to the scared guards till they were ready to quit. They persuaded the other soldiers, and the German captain eventually came and handed me his pistol." An American patrol took over the officers’ bunch of prisoners,

SEAFIRE AS SPOTTER Directed Warspite’s Fire (By Telegraph.—Press Assn,— Copyright.) (Special Correspondent.) (Received June 9. 7 p.m.) LONDON, June 8. Seafires have been used as spotters for battleships and cruisers during the invasion. Lieutenant H. Lang, R.N.Z. N.V.R., of the Fleet Air Arm, gave an example of first-class co-operation when he spotted six armoured cars hiding behind a hedge near Caen. He directed the lire of H.M.S. Warspite to the target, and after a few rounds the ship obtained the range and sat the enemy plunging down a southerly road, , , Lang followed the armoured Cars, anti saw them join forces with a mixed group of 50 more armoured cars and other motor transport j|i the main street of a Village. He directed the ship s fire, and three 13-inch shells fell directly on the main street, breaking up most of the transport and scattering the remainder.