RENNES CAPTURED.

Kaikoura Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 61, 7 August 1944, Page 3

RENNES CAPTURED.

BIG DRIVE BY ALLIES. LONDON, August 4. Rennes, the Capital of Brittany, has been captured by the United States Ist Army, and American forces are now' reported to be spread out in a wide arc south of the city. According to correspondents the advancing troops are encountering ‘ 1 no opposition to speak of.” The great American thrust from from Normandy into the heart of Brittany threatens Brittany’s four great ports—Brest, Lorient, St. Nazaire, and Nantes. Rennes is only 60 ni|iles from the great U boat base of St. Nazaire, and 88 miles from Lorient. The capture of St. Nazaire and Nantes would close the Breton Peninsula. British forces are officially stated to have entered the town of Vire, where fighting is taking place. The position at Vire is stated to be still confused. German forces, according to the Daily Telegraph, are being evacuated from the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey and are landing at Brittany ports.

In a despatch from France a correspondent says that one United States armoured colunyi has by-passed Rennes and has driven 20 miles to the southwest. This puts the Americans just over 40 miles from; the port of St. Nazaire, on the west coast of Brittany.