B.E.F. DEFENCE

Hokitika Guardian, 21 May 1940, Page 5

B.E.F. DEFENCE

HARD PUSHED V.’ITH SACKS TO THE CHANNEL, (United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph Copyright;. (R cceived this day at 1.10 p.m.) LONDON, May 20. The British war correspondent with the B.E.F. in Belgium says:—“Fighting desperately, the B.E.F. once more stands with its hack to the Channel. If ever Britain needed the stubbornness made famous at Waterloo, she needs it now. The B.E.F. continued its withdrawal yesterday to positions whereon inevitably they will make a final stand. Germans bombed and strafed them continuously, but the losses were slight, although ambulance trains are beginning to arrive in the back areas, one with the carriages riddled with bulletholes. The British line in Belgium touches the vicinity of Ath thence northward to Schelde Valley, to the North Sea, where the French and Belgians are putting up a magnificent fight. Farm carts and railway cars were thrown into barricades across the road to hold up the tide of the German advance, which last night rolled seawards beyond Antwerp. The main positions of the B.E.F. were continuously attacked in the past week, and backward movements? were -twice carried out in orefcr to align the front with the flank situation in France. German tank battalions are fighting desperately, and strongly attacked the B.E.F. on the plains west of Brussels, but the advance is losing momentum, ihe British are holding a line stronger than anything previously occupied. Allied warplanes are incessantly bombing the extended German lines of communication. The B.E.F. are confident, hut know they have been badly mauled. The Germans at Louvain threw hack half a dozen attempts to break through. To-night, miles behind the battlelines, the skies are aflame with burning munition and petrol dumps. The towns, villages and battlefields are flooded in moonlight, and a great air battle is in progress.