ALLIES ADVANCE IN ARC ROUND PARIS

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 279, 22 August 1944, Page 5

ALLIES ADVANCE IN ARC ROUND PARIS

Trapped Forces Beginning To Surrender MARSEILLES ALSO NOW OUTFLANKED

(Bv Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) , /> k rnAX' a *.-71 (Received August 21. 11.20 p.m.) LONDON. August 21. Correspondents at the supreme, headquarters today confirm the news that Allied forces have crossed the Seine River and established a bridgehead opposite Mantes. We are thus beginning to outflank Paris from the north-west, and, in the words of one correspondent have sealed the fate of the capital. Other forces have advanced to the south-east of Paris and cut the trunk line to Marseilles. . . . Troops advancing toward the lower Seine are now only two or three miles from Lisieux. The rate of surrender among the troops of the broken Seventh Army m the Normandy pocket has increased. More than 7500 prisoners were taken m the pocket yesterday while the remaining forces were kept under relentless fire. Great losses were inflicted last night as the Germans made'further desperate attempts to break out of the encirclement.

In the southern campaign French forces are now ° n three miles from Toulon, where the Germans have been shelled by battleships and cruisers. The enemy opposition is stiff here, but not to the north-west, where the Allies have already outflanked the great port of Marseilles in a swift new thrust. A third German general is now among the 14,000 prisoners taken. The German troops in the Falaise-Argentan trap were subjected yesterday to one of the most concentrated artillery bombardments of the war, reports Reuter’s correspondent in a vivid dispatch from the battlefront. “All day I watched the Allied guns blasting and searing 20,000 men of von Kluge’s Seventh Army trapped in the valley of death,” he said.

“All day, that is except for an hour and a half round 1.50 p.m. Then the guns suddenly stopped, and nn eerie silence filled the air. It was a temporary armistice. Six German prisoners were being escorted into the valley of death to tell their comrades left amid the smoke and fire that an avenue of surrender through the American infantry ranged on their flank was all ready for them.

“No reply had been received by 3 p.m., and the artillery resumed its wholesale pounding. “I had already seen in the morning hundreds of Germans come scrambling out of the wall of smoke waving white sheets, shirts and rags. They trooped and often trotted in a scamper to surrender. Some were in groups of 20, and others in complete platoons. lour separate times, more than 100 Germans came up the slopes, a white sheet at the head of the straggling human line, their faces and clothes giving grim evidence of the hell, from which they had run. . “Many were unable to control their limbs and muscles. All had a wild, hunted look. They might have been trapped in a. raging bushfire., They were just human wrecks of war." German Relief Attempt. Panzers yesterday had tried desperately to. relieve those still inside the pocket. The attacking force consisted of elements of formations which had escaped from the trap plus new units moved from the east. „ “The picture is now excellent, a staff officer said. “The more troops the German commander sends here from the Seine as reinforcements the better for A Stockholm message says the Berlin correspondent of the “Svenska Dagbladet” reports that German military leaders predict new Allied landings, in Belgium, Holland, and western Germany.

ENEMY FANATICS

Hopeless Struggle In Pocket (British Official Wireless.) (Received August 21, 7 p.m.) RUGBY, August 20. The Falaise pocket is now contracted to an area 10 miles wide and six miles deep. A correspondent says it is very difficult to say how many live Germans are still left in this pocket, but quite a number, of prisoners were taken again today, tvliiie many hundreds of fanactical young Nazis who preferred death to surrender died .fighting, though hopelessly surrounded. In the pocket area no organized resistance is now reported west of Courteilles, two miles east of Putanges. Our forces which arc now combing the pocket cleaned up many hundreds of the enemy during the day. Along all roads leading from the front were to be seen lorries packed tight with . enemy prisoners on the way to the prisoners cage. Escape Effort Fails. Describing an unsuccessful enemy attempt shortly before midday today to break out of the pocket at a point between Trun and Chambois. the correspondent says that tanks headed the German effort, hut they found the Poles and Allied air forces ready for them. As the enemy broke into the open they met with heavy fire- from the Polish anti-tank screen, while from out of the skies came Typhoons letting co salvoes of rockets. Canadian armoured forces in reserve were switched forward to help, but when they arrived the buttle was over and the enemy was again scuttling back to tlie cover of the forest. While this was going on German infantry which apparently had lost their bearings suddenly appeared. They were greeted with a very warm reception and they broke up. attempting to infiltrate through our lines. They hid in deserted houses and sniped nt the roads, .but were eventually mopped up by the Poles. Further to the north tlie British arc making good headway through tlie heav-ily-wooded country to Lisieux and harrying the rearguards covering the main German retreat. One of these rearguard parties go a nasty shock when, after blowing up a small bridge, they found our troons had got round to the back of them on the side of the road and were waiting for them at the next bridge. Triangle of Death.

The village of Livarot, which was captured today, forms with Vimoutier and Orbeck what has become known as the “triangle of death.” It is through this area that, most of the enemy who escaped from tlie pocket passed and into which our artillery has poured unceasing fire and our bombers have unloaded many thousands of tons of bombs. A Canadian officer who had been cut off from his regiment and found himself in the area said the destruction had fo be seen to be believed. PUSH TOWARD LOWER SEINE Steady British Advance LONDON, August 20. British and Canadian forces are pressing the Germans to the Seine, . and a correspondent says our line has moved forward steadily all day, but there have been no sensational changes.' “It’s a long-distance war, not a sprint, and the German rear-guard actions are becoming more violent as our troops keep on their heels.” he says. ~ A Canadian Army spokesman _ said: “The Germans are now surrendering in batches to such an extent that some of the Allied operations are bamnered by

Germans wanting to surrender. The prisoners taken in the Canadian sector alone yesterday are estimated at 2000. The Canadians are now standing along the road from Falaise to Trun to prevent the Germans breaking out of the pocket.’ 1 , _ The British have captured De Mesnil Simon, six miles south-west of Lisieux. They are now four or live miles from Lisieux. Other British troops liberated Argenitan this morning. Carving Up Pocket. There are at least half a dozen smaller pockets within the main pocket, says the British United Press correspondent. Enemy infantry and armour at some points have gone into hiding among woods. First reports show that the Germans have lost over 500 tanks in the battle for the gap, representing a strength of three and a half panzer divisions smashed out of a total of seven divisions which were originally in the pocket. All the country west of 'the FalaiseArgentan road has been cleared of . the enemy, says Reuter’s correspondent in a late dispatch from the Falaise sector. The last defensive cordons west of the FalaiseArgentan road collapsed under relentless pressure. "British troops have overrun the corpse-covered country. The British between August 11 and’ 18 have taken 464 S prisoners, bringing the total since D-day to 20,792, as well as _ over 1000 Germans who were taken prisoner today on the British front. General Dempsey’s headquarters believes that the number of dead far exceeds the total of prisoners. Army’s Dying Kick. A Canadian Press representative says: "The gap at Trun was closed in mad confusion late today as remnants of the German Seventh Army made a last wild attempt to break out to the east. The Germans collected about 70 tanks from half' a dozen divisions on the plain between Trun and 1 Chambois, and tried to ram their way through Poles and Canadians plugging the gap. The Allied armour hammered them, and a battle raged on the plain, with the armoured forces sweeping back and forth in a tumult of gunfire. The whole German force has withdrawn. “Some called it a German counterattack, but it was scarcely that; it was the final escape attempt in this area, and it seemed to be the dying kick of the Seventh Army.”

CRINGED WITH FEAR

Captured Members Of Gestapo

(Received August 21, 11.10 p.m.) NEW YORK, August .21. Broadcasting from Switzerland after a four days’ tour with the Maquis behind the German lines, a C.B.S. correspondent described how captured Gestapo wore terror-stricken and cringed with fear. “In a courtyard at Annecy, where the Maquis herded eight captured Gestapo,, one Nazi begged my wife to save him,' said the correspondent. "Others distinctly shuddered at our approach. After we talked to them in German they flung themselves on our shoulders and wept like children. “We were overwhelmed with explanations, which, however, were hard to accept, because wc met six French who still bore the marks of tortures by these meu. The Germans insisted that they did not want to be in the Gestapo, but wore conscripted.”

CIVIL GOVERNMENT PLAN

(British Official Wireless.. (Received August 21, 9.5’5 p.m.) RUGBY, August 21.

The anticipated liberation of Paris in the Allies’ swift advance brought General de Gaulle and General Koenig to General Eisenhower’s headquarters today for a brief conference, writes a correspondent A:..eFshr wuk wk.nfl kaflkakflkaflkfika at Allied headquarters. No statement was issued on the conference, which lasted for over half an hour in General Eisenhower’s field tent. '-The correspondent adds that the signing of the document returning civil government to the liberated areas in the rear zone tentatively is scheduled soon. General de Gaulle will sign for France, General Eisenhower for the United States and Mr. Eden for Britain. CHEERS FOR DE GAULLE (Received August 21, 11.10 p.m.) LONDON. August 21. “We shall rebuild Cherbourg so that it is greater and more beautiful than before, just as we shall rebuild France,” said General de Gaulle, speaking from the balcony of the Cherbourg Town Hall, where a crowd of 7000 greeted him with cjj'wrs and the singing of the “MarseilbO se.” General de Gaulle was received by the commander-in-chief of the French Forces of the Interior and the French Chief of Staff. He was welcomed by thousands of people.