LIKE STALINGRAD

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 40, 16 August 1944, Page 6

LIKE STALINGRAD

GERMANS MAY MAKE STAND Rec. 2 p.m. RUGBY, August 15. Opinions vary as to whether the German forces in Normandy are attempting to retreat from the Ppcket, roughly 30 miles across, in' which the Allies are rounding them .up. Some observers, judging by the small amount of movement of troops and supplies through the Falaise gap, consider that the enemy army is standing its ground as the Sixth Army did in somewhat similar circumstances at Stalingrad. In support of this view it is pointed out that-the country between Falaise and Mortain is generally thickly wooded, with many hedges and leafy lanes, whereas east of Falaise there are wide open stretches. In the present case the bulk of the German armour in western Europe is thought to be either inside the ring or committed to battle elsewhere in Normandy. MANY URGENT PROBLEMS. The Germans at present have a number of urgent problems on hand. In the first place, they are faced with the immediate danger of losing the greater part of their best remaining army m the West. Secondly, they must fight a campaign in southern France.. The fourth, phase of the great combined Allied assult on Germany opened three months after the first offensive began. It was on May ■12 that the Allied army in Italy attacked the Gustav Line from Cassino to the sea. On June 6 the first Allied landing in France took place. On June 23 the Russians began their offensive-with the assault on Vitebsk. On August 15 the western Allies carried out their second landing this year in the Mediterranean.—B.O.W. :