CALAIS AN EASY PREY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 81, 3 October 1944, Page 5

CALAIS AN EASY PREY

FRICTION AMONG GARRISON Rec. 11 a.m. RUGBY, October 2. .Despite Hitler's exhortation to a suicidal last stand, Calais fell an easy prey to the Canadians within six hours of the end of the truce, reports a correspondent. Except for marines, there was no fight left in the garrison. The army had had enough and the men were, waiting to be taken prisoner. There has been constant friction be- ~£?\ the whines, who wanted to fight it out, and the soldiers, who were of poor quality and had had enough. So the garrison fell without a real struggle, > with abundant ammunition and provisions for another three weeks

. LONDON, October 2. _ Calais is still heavily mined, and it is not.safe to walk on the pavement or drive a jeep through the streets, reports a British United Press correspondent after making a tour of the town. The heaviest damage is concentrated round the German headquarters, which were in a block of flats m which Colonel Schoerner had a luxurious suite.

There is^ a large reinforced concrete shelter behind the flats, containing 50 bunks and also office equipment. The correspondent found there the remains of uneaten meals and empty champagne and cognac bottles. The German staff had transferred to this place during the siege. , A ~"P? ny Telegraph" correspondent at Calais says that several, hundred German prisoners were lined up in the mam square awaiting removal. They were all freshly shaven, and did not show any, signs of hunger. Calais was strongly fortified, with many concrete torts and blockhouses in which a stouter garrison might have put up a sterner than the Canadians met. ;' v . ,: ■,■-.'•