INVASION COST

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXIV, Issue 112, 10 April 1944, Page 5

INVASION COST

CONFIDENT U.S. GENERAL. LONDON, April 8.

“The reports that the Allied losses will be tremendous when the invasion of Europe begins are tommy-rot,” said. Lieut.-General Bradley, commander of the United States ground forces in the Allied expeditionary forco under General Eisenhower, to the officers of a United States infantry division in Britain.

“Yon would know you could not lose iT you were able to see what is lined up,” lie said. “You will be surprised at the naval gunfire and power you will have. Some of you will not return, but this number will be small. We lost only an average of about three or four men per 1000 iiU the Tunisian campaign—and seeing a show like the forthcoming one ought to be worth that chance.”

“The anniversary of the Battle, of Vimy Ridge (in which the Canadians took a prominent part in the last war) brought into the forefront the impatience of the Canadian people’ and troops overseas with the slow pace at which the war is being waged,” says tho New York Times Ottawa correspondent. “It is fully appreciated that preparations for the invasion must take time, but ever since the ‘Quebec Conference everybody has been living in expectation which now seems long deferred.” Tho first month of the European invasion would cost the United States forces a maximum of 150,000 casualties, including killed, wounded, captured and otherwise lost for duty, stated Mr A. May, chairman of the House of Representatives Military Affairs Committee, at a Press interview in Washington. He added: “That is tho figure on which the armed forces are tentatively reckoning for replacements, compared with the current attrition of 55,000 men monthly?*'

United States naval technicians, American sailors and skilled British artisans are working side by side assembling tank-carry-ing landing craft at British ports with factory speed, under one of the most novel production schemes of the war. The vessels are produced in America in three sections, each part virtually complete and ready for service. They arc shipped to Britain where workmen lino up the sections, bolt them together and make the joints watertight with canvas gaskets. The engines are delivered assembled and the galleys and living quarters are fully equipped. The first vessel took 53 days to assemble, but the men have cut the time to nine days and hope to reduce-that. They carry approximately five tanks each but can be used to transport other vehicles or men.