AT RAPID PACE

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

AT RAPID PACE

Allied Expansion Behind Riviera MANY TOWNS FALL (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) LONDON, August 17. French and American troops in southern France are keeping up the rapid pace of their drive into the interior as further reinforcements of men, tanks, and guns are put ashore; The advancing Allied troops have joined up with the -airborne units which wore dropped far behind the German lines in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Along the coast all the Allied beach-head forces now form a line more than 50 miles long as the bomber flies. . n . special announcement at Allied headquarters in Italy states that St. Raphael and Frejus, south-west of Cannes, have been taken. . A correspondent reports that the Allies are some 23 miles inland up. the Ardens Valley. Among the towns m Allied hands are St. Tropez, St. Maxime, Le Levandou, Le Muy, Le Luc, Lorgues. Collobrieres, Vidabon, Besse, La Napoule, Draguignan (15 miles from the coast), and Cuers (12 miles north-east of louAigiers radio stated that Allied troops captured a promontory four miles from Toulon. The German news agency admitted that airborne troops landed north-west of Cannes and entered the town after bloody fighting, and later reported the fall of the town. Reuter’s correspondent at advanced Allied headquarters reports that fires were blazing in Nice harbour early today. The correspondent adds that French and American forces are fighting their way into the outskirts of Hyeres, 10 miles due east of Toulon on the coastal road. Some Opposition. On the east side of the Riviera beachhead French and Allied forces are moving to occupy all the low-lying ground as far as Nice, where steep foothills ot the Alpes Maritimes guard the roads to Italy, and where the Maquis seriously threaten the remaining German garrisons. , . The Reuter correspondent adds. “Marked features of the past 24 hours have been the appearance of a certain amount of enemy land opposition, and the formation of a definite- land front running northward from the coast at Cap Renat through Collobriorcs and Le Due to Lorgues. . , . “Military action is going on mainly along the roads to the west, because the country between the coastal road and the Frejus-Toulon road consists ot wooded and sparsely populated mountain land unsuitable for the deployment of armour but which eminently suits the Ma- ** So far elements of two German divisions have been identified as opposing the Allies in southern France says Reuter’s correspondent at the Allied Mediterranean headquarters. , , r The “Daily Express” correspondent at Allied headquarters says: “We have not only established the Riviera beach-head, but we are over the hump. In other words we are over the first obstacle—the Maures mountains. These granite slopes rise 2500 feet in an arc from Toulon to the mouth of the Argens River, and what might have been a defence for the Germans is now a wall against which we can rest our backs if necessary. Convoy Wiped Out.

Bomb-carrying Thunderbolts today knocked out every single one of a convoy of 50 German lorries which were towing artillery toward the Riviera. invasion front. Forty-two of the vehicles were set on fire and the remainder were badly mauled. This was the high light of another big day for the air force. Spitfires patrolling the Riviera beachhead this afternoon had their first encounter with the Luftwaffe since the beginning of the invasion. Three I<ockeWulf 190’s turned tail, but an unnamed New Zealand pilot hedge-hopped after one of them for 50 miles inland and left it smoking before he had to break oit the chase.