French Recapture Arras

Manawatu Times, Volume 65, Issue 121, 23 May 1940, Page 7

French Recapture Arras

Enemy Pressure Continues in Direction of Coast

Germans Claim to Have Surrounded Million Allied Troops

United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright

Received Wednesday, 11.29 p.m.

LONDON, May 22.

A Paris message says it is officially announced that the Prench have recaptured Arras.

The British United Press correspondent with the German Army reports that General von Reichenau, commanding the Sixth German Army, told neutral journalists that the fighting thus far was only preliminary encounters. “We have won the first trick, but have not yet met the main body of the Allied forces,” he said.

The fate of General Giraud, commander of the French Ninth Army, is not known. The French spokesman was unable to confirm or deny his capture. It is admitted that some members of the General Staff were taken prisoner.

Waves of Allied bombers over Aachen early this morning dropped a number of bombs. The attacks continued despite a fierce defence.

The French morning communique says that enemy pressure continued in the direction of the coast, taking the form of raids carried out by small motorised detachments. Arras is now in French hands. In Lorraine, the enemy having bombed three towns behind the French front, we retaliated on three towns behind the German front.

The Royal Air Force, in a" raid this morning over the Franco-Belgian border, lasting four hours, bombed and machinegunned German columns advancing in support of the mechanised drive to the Channel. Many tons of bombs were dropped.

The Times’ Rome correspondent describes how the Germans captured a bridge over Juliana Canal by means of gliders, which are reported to be capable of carrying six to eight fullyarmed men. The gliders’ success is stated to be due to their ability to land in a small field svithout noise.

All the evening newsapers in Rome give prominence to news from Berlin announcing the surrounding of a million British and French troops and the capture of the Ninth Army staff. The papers lavishly display other German propaganda claims.

The German radio alleges that the Allies arc using dumdum bullets.