FRENCH PATRIOTS

Grey River Argus, 5 July 1944, Page 5

FRENCH PATRIOTS

Hold Up Enemy BRETONS SEIZE KEYPOINT (Rec. 7.10) LONDON, July 7. It is reported in a communique from the French Ministry of the Interior in Algiers: French patriots have held up a complete German panzer division which set out from Toulouse on June 6 for Normandy, 400 miles away, and which has not yet arrived at its destination. The engagement of this armoured division gives a new indication of the strength of the patriots. In one part of central France all rail traffic has been suspended. Sabotage at Pdris marshalling yards reached such proportions that the Germans no longer attempt to repair damage. French forces of the interior have launched an offensive in areas from which Germans might draw reserves. There has been bitter fighting in Brittany. Patriots there recently captured and held for two days, (Barcelonette, a keypoint in the south-east of France on a route to the Riviera.

A London “Daily Express” correspondent on the Franco-Spanish fronteir says: Marshal Rommel, being alarmed by French patriot activities, ordered mass arrests in southern and' western France before he left to take over the command of the German forces in Normandy. In certain districts all of the men between the ages of 16 and 70 were arrested. A number of Mediterranean coastal villages were completely evacuated, including Port Vdndresi, Colioure and Banyuls.

REPORTS ON SITUATION LONDON, Jtily 3.

The “Daily Telegraph’s” correspondent, Christopher Buckley, with the Allied Forces, says: Counter-in-filtration has been practised successfully by the Germans during the past three weeks. They have left behind the main forces pockets of snipers and well-sighted 88 m.m. guns and occasional tanks. The 88 is probably the best anti-tank gun in existence to which even the British 17;pounder is not a wholly adequate riyal. In addition, the P'anther is certainly the best all-round tank in Western Europe to-day, and with the Tiger tanks is a deadly obstacle to our progress. The British Sherman tank is good, but operates to the best advantage in open country, but close country, as Normandy, is bound to suit the tank with the bigger gun. At present the British are not attempting to thrust forward with armour ufitil ■ a clear-cut breakthrough is achieved by other means. Commenting that the British have attracted a concentration of no fewer than seven panzer divisions on their front around Caen, the “Daily Telegraph’s” writer, Lieutenant-General H G. Martin says: No doubt Rundstedt and Rommel would dearly love to launch a general counter-offen-sive before the Allies can draw renewed strength through Cherbourg. They might thus reach the quick decision in the West, which the High Command needs so desperately in order to release troops for th? other hard pressed fronts. From this, however, they are restrained by fear of further Allied landings elsewhere. Montgomery, on the other hand, finds his efforts to expand the beachhead opposed by this exceedingly powerful force of armour,

more heavily gunned than his own and practising in defence that most effective of tactics —“counter-infil-tration.” The result so far has been more or less a stalemate. If .and when we get some summer weather the Allied air forces, we may hope, will resolve the deadlock.

BETTER PART OF VALOUR.

BRITISH N.C.O.’S SECURE

SURRENDER.

(Rec. 9 p.m.) LONDON, July 3. A British officer at a press conference told how four British n.c.o.’s caused the last of the Germans holding out in Cherbourg to surrender, thereby winning the United States bronze stars and the honour of being the first British soldiers whom the Americans decorated in Normandy. He said the n.c.o.’s were one sergeantmajor and three corporals, who are members of an amplifying unit lent to the United States Army. One of them spoke German. They went forward from American lines with a loudspeaker in a truck. They told Germans who were occupying a powerful position that their outlook was hopeless, and that the .only sensible thing was for them to surrender. They made the appeal from the truck-when it was exposed to German guns, and was liable to- be blown to bits at an v moment. The appeal had the desired effect. It brought out more than one thousand Germans under a white flag.

GERMAN PILOT GIVES IN. LONDON, July 3.

A Messerschmitt pilot virtually surrendered in midair to a Canadian Spitfire pilot over Normandy on Monday. The Canadian said: “I fired a burst from 150 yards. Saw a pattern of machine-gun bullets form along the enemy’s wing. I then found that I was without ammunition. The enemy’s engine was smoking. As I ran alongside, he shook his head, waved home, and pointed downward. I took it that he was going to cra'sh land, which he did. I followed him down. I saw a wing tear off as he landed.”

CARE OF AIR CASUALTIES. LONDON, July 3.

The flight engineer of a British heavy bomber attacking objectives in the Cadn area was operated upon at an R.A.F. mobile hospital in the fields of Normandy less than two hours after the bomber was hit by flak. He was badly wounded in the leg by flak, and the nilot of his Lancaster decided to land in Normandy, after which the wounded man was rushed by ambulance to the field hospital, where an immediate operation saved the amputation of the leg. In a few days he will be flown to England. Aircraft of the R.A.F. Transport Command have flown the first complete “forward staging post” to the front line in Normandy. With the post have gone more than 100 personnel. including R.A.F., W.A.A.F., and medical orderlies, tents, first-aid equipment, and everything needed to prepare the casualties for flights to England. As the front line moves forward, the staging posts, which will handle freight as well as casualties, will move with it. REPRISALS ON FRENCH. LONDON-, June 30. The death roll of Frenchmen who have fallen victim to the German execution squads is increasing daily, states the Zurich correspndent of the “Daily Telegraph.” The death sentence is being carried out almost hourly in towns and villages, often publicly. The German commander at Drantome ordered the mayor to name fifty hostages, who would be shot as a reprisal for killing four German officers. He refused and he was executed in the market square, and fifty hostages selected by the Germans were then shot. Martial law is reported to have been proclaimed in Lyons after an attack against German soldiers. Twelve German soldiers were killed in a miniature battle near Epian yesterday. ... . Thirty patriots died before firing squads in St. lu Perce. Mass arrests .occurred in some departments where one hundred farms were searched. A large number of buildings were razed. All males aged from sixteen to sixty have been taken in custody in some districts in the Bordeaux region. .... The Germans have formed fifteen new security battalions. Their main task is preventing sabotage oi railway lines, locomotive depots, and industries. Patriots at Vaison recently shot down a Heinkel with .a machine-gun. They also killed 150 and captured fifteen Germans. Ihe Germans executed eighteen inhabitants of Vaison as a reprisal. Severe fighting is reported from the Ardennes and Garonne ayeas.