CALAIS FORTRESS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 75, 26 September 1944, Page 6

CALAIS FORTRESS

STORY OF STORMING

Rec.2.p.m. LONDON, Sept. 25. The assault against Calais which was,launched today involved the employment of one of the greatest concentrations of Allied warplanes in support of ground operations yet used in the war. From early morning, a constant stream of R.A.F.. bombers streamed over the French coast. Reuters correspondent with the Canadians attacking Calais reported that when the attack against the port started at 10 a.m. wave after wave of" heavy bombers and rocket-firing Typhoons dropped shattering loads against the port's great steel and concrete defences. Three hundred Halifaxes ,pounded Calais for nearly an > hour with high .explosives, dropping nearly 1300 tons/ The first strong point to fall to.the Canadians was the fortress of Escalles, four miles south-west of Calais. The Canadians then stormed the general emplacements holding the great cross-Channel guns. Theyj also crossed the road between Sangatte and the fortress of Coquelles, which is a little farther inland. High ground to the. south-west of Calais, is also in Allied hands. The correspondent says that ,the assault against Calais is strikingly- similar to the attack which last week reduced Boulogne. • - The moment the last bombs had crashed down among the pill-boxes, the flail tanks went clattering in among the minefields with infantry closely following. When the infantry arrived at the outer defences they found the Germans dejectedly sitting on the ground. The Germans had attempted to surrender to the flail tanks, but they were too busy to take prisoners.

The correspondent added that, despite the initial success against the outer defences of Calais, the" final reduction was expected to take some time, because the town itself is one of the strongest fortresses in Europe. "The Times" correspondent outside Calais says that the Germans, in addition to the construction of a formidably anti-tank ditch and the mining of all approaches to Calais, flooded a wide area west, south-west, and southeast of the town, and it is necessary for the Canadians advancing from the west and south-west to be provided with Mac West life-jackets when negotiating the inundated area, 250,000 square yards of which the enemy flooded to a depth of six feet, wiping out several villages in the process. Assault boats on lorries were followed up by infantry. The enemy's heaviest guns were located in casements in the fortress of Escalles but he-is-also well provided with field artillery and 88mm. guns, while such batteries as survived from Cap Gris IS Tez have also been brought into action. About 20,000 civilians remain m Calais, herded in the southern part of the town. They refused to leave because they feared being caught be-