ALLIES AT BAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 137, 11 June 1940, Page 6

ALLIES AT BAY

Details of the great battle in France, now in its sixth day of progress, are still confused, but a survey of the whole situation seems to show that the Germans have made further advances without disorganising the French system of defence in depth.

There arc three main thrusts carried out with a vast preponderance of numbers and with proportionate losses. On the west the enemy has swung round and in from the Somme, where the battle started, and with detachments of his armoured columns has reached the Seine. Soni(* units are reported even to have crossed the Seine in an effort, no doubt, to take Paris in the rear. If the number of these armoured vehicles is small, they can be dealt with and need cause no special alarm. There is nothing yet to show that any large body of infantry has been able to follow the tanks, and to that extent the French defensive system is intact. This is probably ihe most dangerous attack, as the French in this region arc likely to be greatly outnumbered. Reinforcements from Britain are being sent as rapidly as possible to restore the balance.

The second thrust, in the centre at Soissons, is obviously aimed direptly at Paris along the line taken by the Germans in their invasion of 1914. The third thrust is across the Aisne at Rethel into the Argonnc region and appears to be designed to take the northern part of the Maginot Line in the rear. Further, General Weygand's prediction, in his order of the day on Sunday, that the battle would "stretch tomorrow as far as Switzerland" is borne out by the report that the southern end of the Maginot Line has come into action and that twenty German divisions are massed for an attack in a southwesterly direction. After what has already happened to little neutral countries there is no reason to suppose that Hitler would have any scruples about attacking Switzerland herself, if it would further his

military plans. The entry of Italy into the war on Germany's side at this particular moment suggests that the Axis Powers may have concerted plans for a joint attack on the south of France with Switzerland in the role of Belgium as cm avenue of advance. The Swiss have prepared themselves for such an abuse of their neutrality, and independence. Through the fortunes of war 'the British Army cannot now give France the help on land that would have been possible if Lord Gort's splendid force had been able to withdraw from Dunkirk, after the Battle of Flanders, with its fighting equipment. The B.E.F. will be reconstituted stronger than ever to. take its full part in the Avar, but it will take a little time,, and time is everything just now. France, witl] her population of forty millions, could not in the nature of things muster an army as large as that, of Germany with double her population. Then the French have had to keep an army on their south-eastern frontier for just such an emergency as has occurred, namely, the entry of Italy into the war. So the French; attacked on three sides, are standing desperately at bay, until the British can come in again as they did in the Great War. There is no more heroic spectacle in all history, and America and the rest of the world may well he moved with sympathy and a searching of heart as to what they can do to help France in the fateful days through which she is passing. The spirit of France, higher than ever, breathes serenely in the noble expression of her devoted Premier, Paul Reynaud.! The battle goes hard with France, but it goes hard also with the enemy. General Weygand retains, with his generals; the mastery of manoeuvrei that is so vital to an army. The enemy shows signs of tiring, with huge losses of men and material. In this decisive hour of battle there is no reason for the Allies to despair.