TACTICS NOW CLEAR

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 114, 15 May 1940, Page 10

TACTICS NOW CLEAR

GERMAN DRIVE

POURING THROUGH GAP

HEAVY CASUALTIES

REPULSED BY FRENCH

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) (Received May 15, 2 p.m.) i LONDON, May 14.

The correspondent of "The Times" with the B.E.F. says that the great battle for Belgium is continuing on a 100-mile front from the marsh country to the north of the Albert Canal to the Longwy mining basin. The Germans are throwing in all their arms in an attempt to break Belgian resistance before the de- •' fenders can establish a strong liaison with the British and French armies. , The German plan in Belgium is now taking shape. Germati armoured •/- forces, advancing across the Maastricht appendix, aimed a massive blow at the angle formed by the junction of the Meuse River and the Albert Canal, behind which lay the main Belgian defences. The Germans also planned to pour troops through the gap created by the first impact and spread them out - fanwise behind the defenders, thus .cutting communications. The first phase of the operations was apparent:ly successful. The defenders reeled back before the fearful combination of artillery, tanks, and planes. '- We are now in the middle of the •second phase, in which armoured = Columns continue to pour westwards through the gap. . The German attack in the Longwy.area, where the

invaders are reported to be challenging the underground hill fortresses, indicates an attempt to break the Maginot Line at the point where the Allied forces are pivoting in a vast right-wheel across Belgium.

The French night communique states: "North of the Meuse we continued to advance and our organisation is working according to plan. The enemy attacked our actual front at two points and we repulsed him with heavy loss among his tanks.

"On the Meuse, south of Namur, the Germans attempted to cross the river at several points. We counterattacked and fighting continues, especially in the Sedan region, where the enemy is making his effort with furious obstinacy and heavy casualties. West of the Moselle the Germans delivered local attacks which were repulsed.

"Our planes powerfully and efficiently intervened in the battle and we successfully bombed strategic points and military convoys. Fifteen German planes were shot down on our territory."

The correspondent of "The Times" with the advanced air striking force emphasises the brilliant work of the R.A.F. in combating German aerial frightfulness. The R.A.F. drove back four raiders which dropped a number of high-explosive and incendiary bombs on a small village on the Marne, killing several patients in a maternity hospital and setting fire to three houses. Our bombers were very active in the Sedan region, bombing and machine-gunning troops and motorised units. One squadron dropped four tons of bombs on troop concentrations and destroyed seventeen enemy planes.

A young South Australian " was phenomenally successful. Before last week he had brought down five Germans and in the last four days he has increased his bag to fourteen.