BRITISH THRUST

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 10, 12 July 1944, Page 5

BRITISH THRUST

East Of Caen

THREAT ON FLANK

LONDON, July 11.

British troops in Normandy made a very satisfactory thrust today down the bank of the River Orne, east of Caen, a sector where there has been little movement in the past week or two. The attack began at dawn, and the men advanced down the river until they reached the village of Colombelles, little more than a mile from a suburb of Caen, in which the Germans are still holding* out.

This new move increases the outflanking threat to the enemy in the Caen suburb, and his position has also been weakened by a Canadian advance on the other side of Caen.

One correspondent s.ays that the British troops managed to get a foothold in Colombelles during the day. but came under heavy German fire and had to withdraw to the outskirts.

Correspondents at Supreme Headquarters say that the attack was launched just below the junction of the rivers Odon and Orne. The Canadians made rapid progress, captured the village of Louvigny, and reached the west bank of the Orne just beyond it

About two miles below the Canadian sector British forces have been engaged all day in very fierce fighting around Hill 112, near Esquay, and the villages of Maltot and Eterville, which were captured yesterday.

A correspondent with the Second Army says that the Germans are specially anxious to drive us off the hill which dominates the valley of the Orne. They threw in tanks, about 20 at a time, and they actually got a foothold on the hill, but the latest news is that we are still holding it.- We also still hold Eterville, where British troops have been fighting off German counter-attacks from dawn to dusk, but we have been forced to withdraw from Maltot. The Germans threw in a very heavy counter-attack last night with severe fire from 88-millimetre and. 75-millimetre tanks. Moving about and shooting as they went, the tanks were difficult targets for our gunners, and before first light the British withdrew to higher ground just north of the village, where they stayed all day. beating off attack after attack.

In the centre of the Allied front American troops launched an attack today towards the important road and rail centre of St. Lo, and by noon they were fighting within two miles of their objective.

Other American forces have fought their way against stubborn enemy resistance to within four miles of Periers.

Bad flying weather today again limited the operations of Allied aircraft over the battle front, but American Thunderbolts scored a resounding vic.tory on the St. Lo front, destroying or damaging 28 out of a concentration of 50 enemy tanks.