FACTORIES BLOWN UP

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 168, 15 June 1940, Page 7

FACTORIES BLOWN UP

FRENCH PRECAUTIONS. FEROCIOUS RESISTANCE. PARIS, June 14. The bridges are intact, but the French blew up big armaments factories in the suburbs. A radio commentator says the relinquishment of Paris gives more room and suppleness to the movement of the Army, which js ferociously continuing to resist the German pressure. The police and Civil Guards closed the gates of the, city against evacuees at midnight. This step was taken in view of tlie enemy pressure, particularly in the western suburbs. The French Army had fallen back on either side of the city to a line well southward. Tlie German advance guards began to move forward and it was to avoid the possibility of a collision and confusion that .the orders were given that no more people would be allowed to leave the city after midnight. A DEAD CITY. Paris is a dead city. Every shop is closed and none is seen in the streets, except police and Civil Guards, who are without weapons and are purely a civic body. An unofficial military report states the situation east of Rhoims ;is more serious than in the immediate vicinity of Paris. Unfortunately, the nature of the ground on which the Germans are attempting to cut off the Maginot Line from General Weygand’s forces resembles a rolling plain, which is suitable for tanks. The threat. is grave, unless the German armoured units can be met by armour. The Fascist paper Action did not appear on its usual weekly publication day. . , ■ At Tours the Air Ministry stated that French ’planes had bombed and dispersed armoured columns along the whole front. ENEMY CLAIMS.

The German High Command states that the Seine below Paris lias been crossed and a wide front at Le Havre taken. The enemy is m full retreat from Paris to Sedan. Our armoured units at many points have overtaken and penetrated the retreating forces, which have abandoned their entire equipment. Our infantry broke the protective positions on the front of Paris which the enemy were no longer capable of defending. . “We took Vitry-le-Francois, east of the Marne, and reached the southern edge of the Argonne Forest, and also stormed a hill north-west of 1 erdun. We also took Montmedy.