GERMAN RESERVES IN WEST FRANCE

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 277, 19 August 1944, Page 7

GERMAN RESERVES IN WEST FRANCE

(Received August 18, 7 p.m.) WASHINGTON, August 17. The Acting Secretary of War, Mr. John McCloy, at a Press conference, said that the American losses on the Normandy sector from June 6 to August G were *16,434 killed. 76,535 wounded, and 19,704 missing. The German armies in Normandy, he said, were pretty well shredded, and there seemed little likelihood that they could make a fresh stand anywhere west of the Seine. “The southern France operation, which is one day ahead of schedule in penetration and is closely’ co-ordinated with the Normandy front, is the most efficient in military history,” he continued. “The opposition has not been uniformly light as the first reports indicated ; nevertheless, the Allied casualties were quite small. “The enemy has suffered a decisive defeat in Normandy and by the resistance forces of the interior. These add up only to the first steps in the Battle of France. All this sounds pretty optimistic, but there is no reason to deny that the course of the war is favourable. Germany seems definitely on the toboggan, but the Germans have fought bitterly and they still have large forces in western France which are not yet committed to action.”