Fall of Amiens and Arras

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

Fall of Amiens and Arras

GERMAN CLAIM TO HAVE CAPTURED ABBEVILLE IS UNCONFIRMED • LONDON, May 21. The Germane have occupied Amiens and Arras iu their westward thrust in northern France towards the Channel ports. A statement to this effect was made by the French Prime Minister, AI. Reynand, in the Senate to-day. A claim made in a German communique that Abbeville, near the mouth of the Somme, has been reached by German forces is treated with reserve in London.

French spokesmen indicate that Amiens and Arras are lightly held by the Germans, and they hint that a French conter-blow is to be expected.

The German southward thrust towards Paris is being fiercely opposed on the Aisne. The French admit the loss of Laon, and the Germans claim the capture of Rethel. To-night's French communique states: “In the region northward of the fcomme, the Germans, continuing their pressure, have pushed advance elements as far as Amiens and Arras. Despite local German efforts, the situation on the remainder of the front is unchanged. Our reconnaissance planes and bombing formations, collaborating with naval bombing units, are intensely active and have ceaselessly harassed the German land forces. Between May 30 and May 19 French planes and antiaircraft guns shot down at least 308 German planes in onr lines."

French official circles stated: “The position, in a way, is still graver than it was yesterday. The German claim to occupation of Arras and Amiens refers to motorised units only. There wiU be a French reply. We must wait for this."

A French spokesman said that the German advance in the Cambrai-Somme sector was accompanied by detachments of motor-cycle raiders, lorryloads of special troops, and also parachute soldiers.

Sixty thousand motor-cycle troops constituted one of Hitler's “blitzkrieg" weapons on the Western Front. French tanks mowed down numbers, and Allied planes severely strafed others.

The French War Office spokesman states that the French forces have evacuated Laon, south-east of St. Quentin, which the Germans occupied without fighting. German attempts to cross the Aisne and attacks against Montraedy, at the western end of the Maginot Line proper, were repulsed. German planes yesterday attacked Channel ports, but, tho spokesman did Dot disclose the names or the possible damage. The Berlin press states that German planes bombed Zeebrugge, Ostend, Dunkirk, Calais, and Boulogne. They admit •trong Allied resistance in Ghent, the north-west province of Belgium, along the river Schelde.

The semi-official French Telfrance Agency says that all tho region behind Cambrai is being burned sj'stematicallv and that many ther towns besides Amiens and Arras arc in flame?.

The German High Command claims to have captured Arras, Amiens, Abbeville near the mouth of the Somme (50 miles due south of Boulogne), and Rethel (on the southern bank of the Aisne.)

The communique states: ''The French Ninth Army has been crushed and is about to dissolve. Its commander,

General Giraud, and his staff have been captured." The German official news agoncy states that not General Giraud but the new commander of the Ninth Army has been captured. It alleges that General Giraud was dismissed and was returning to Paris at the time. It is authoritatively denied in Paric that General Giraud and his staff have been captured. According to a British Official Wireless message, no official statement had been made in London, up to a late hour this afternoon on the German High Command communique claiming an advance as far as Abbeville. This claim is received in London with tho greatest reserve pending authoritative information.

According to a Press Association message, it is learned in London that tho claims made in the German communique are regarded as grossely exaggerated. The latest reports received in London state the tho British Expeditionary Force is fighting well in its assigned positions and is in good heart. The situation is still obscure south from the British front. It is known that the German claims in this area are based on the limits that the smaller mechanised detachments have reached.

Some British was correspondents have returned to London.