NEW ALLIED LANDINGS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 16 August 1944, Page 5

NEW ALLIED LANDINGS

SOUTH COAST OF FRANCE LITTLE RESISTANCE ON BEACHES SATISFACTORY PROGRESS BEING MADE (Rec. 9.30 a.m.) ' LONDON, August 15. "To-day American, British and French troops, strongly supported by the Allied air forces, are being landed by the American, British and French Fleets on the south coast of France," states a special communique issued by General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson, the Allied Supreme Commander, Mediterranean.

There was minimum German opposition when the first wave of American infantry landed on a beach in southern France, says the N.B.C.’s Italy correspondent. Paratroops were landed two miles inshore before dawn. In under an hour one company from the first wave had reached the first objectives. Seven waves with 2000 men or more were in France before 10 a.m. An aerial bombardment began at dawn and a naval bombardment at 6.50. Fire was poured into shore positions where the primary objectives were neutralised. Eleven waves of infantry had been put ashore in under two hours. Paratroops were dropped to paralyse German communications and prevent Germans occupying high ground overlooking the beaches. Low cloud impeded our bombers. Heavy cruisers and destroyers bombarded shore positions for 70 minutes after which landing craft loaded to the limit stormed the beaches. The landing in southern France is officially described as “in strong force,*' states Reuter’* correspondent at Allied Advanced Headquarter* in Italy. It was led by specially trained Allied troops, many of whom are veterans of previous Mediterranean landings. The invasion is being carried out at several points along a considerable part of 1 00 miles between Nice and Marseilles. The invasion fleet since daybreak has been pouring ashore great masses of troops and equipment. Allied airmen report that resistance has been either negligible or is being withheld by coastal batteries. The airborne force was the largest ever dropped in any Allied operation, consisting of over 14,000 rear combat men. An American commentator broadcasting from Allied Headquarters reported that more than 800 naval ships participated in the landing. The air fleet was the largest ever used. The operation is going extremely well.

The British United Press understands that the landihg force In southern France is commanded by the United States Lieut.-General Jacob Levers, deputy Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean. The German news agency says the Allied landing in southern France occurred St Sortnes, east of Toulon. Satisfactory progress of the operations in southern France is reported in a special communique from Allied Headquarters in the Mediterranean which states: “Today at mid-morning pur disembarkation operations were proceeding successfully according to plan. Troops are encountering only weak resistance from enemy ground forces. Operations of Allied airborne troops which supported the disembarkation were also carried out successfully.” Following the five days’ hammering which Allied Air Forces have given German positions along the Italian Riviera and the French coast to the west. Allied ground troops went ashore from the invasion fleet at several points along a wide front, writes a correspondent. The 800 ships of the Riviera Invasion Fleet flew the flags of the Royal Navy and the navies of the United States. France. Cahatia. the Netherlands, Poland, Greece and Belgium. Before the assault boats pushed off, big Allied warships pounded the coastal batteries. The Germans have been building and reinforcing these since last August and they include many deeply embedded 14in coastal guns protected by thick walls of steel. Operations closely followed the pattern of those in Normandy on D-Day. Convoys from Italy, Africa and Various Mediterranean islands, chiefly Corsica and Sardinia, early this morning gathered at the assembly points in the light of a thin moon. At 8 o’clock a procession of ships and “ducks” began shuffling to the shore. They landed in calm clear weather. The landing beaches, it is officially announced, extend over a considerable part of the coast between Nice and Marseilles. A second special communique from the Mediterranean states: “By midmorning all the landings were proceeding successfully according to schedule against only light ground opposition. There was no air opposition. Supporting airborne operations were also successfully executed.” A correspondent in I !y says bombers continued the assault on southern France invasion areas this afternoon when heavy bombers bombed five highway bridges across the Rhone River and medium bombers attacked beach and gun installations on a 30-mile sector from west of Cannes to the east of Toulon. / PARATROOP LANDINGS £he commander of one Mediterranean Air Force squadron landing paratroops in the first wave said: “There was nothing to it. We went in and dropped them and came home.” It is stated authoritatively that the first paratroop landings attracted hardly a shot. A naval communique says the responsibility for establishihg the army! on the shore is the navy’s and the i navel commander has ordered the assault to be pressed home with relentless force. Tfie Allies have a good idea of the Germans’ strength in southern France. It is believed there are elements of only between four and even divisions.' without large tank or air forces. \ The correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain who flew over' the beachhead said: “As far as I can see from about 1000 feet over the beach where the Allies smashed ashore an hour ago no m rjor fighting appears to have developed. The same lack of anv sign of resistance marks the entire rugged landscape as far as 20 miles inland. The preliminur stage*, 0 f the Allied landing—paratroop and glider landing-—were carried out successfully. W* inland glided down to a meadow between rugged crags just within the coastline area. We sometimes flew as l f w as 300 feet above treetops and still no shot was fired at us.*’ The British United Press correspondent points out there seems some confusion over the number of airborne troops landed in southern France. Tlfe total earlier in the day was estimated at 14.000 but the figure possibly refers to the total airborne during the operation, including air combat crews. AIR BOMBARDMENT Reuter's correspondent at Allied Headquarters In Italy says the full weight of the great Mediterranean Al-

li«M Air Force was thrown into the asfault to help blast the way inland for the invasion troops. An hour before the airborne troops landed ton after ton of bombs were cascaded against the beach defences to knock out or render ineffective any invasion obstacles which survived the past fortnight’s plastering. Heavy bombers and tactical planes in semi darkness dropped a huge load against gun positions, strongpoints, coast defdhces, troop concentrations, supply dumps and obstacles, while further inland airfields and lines of communications were repeatedly attacked. “Otlil things are happening today In the area between Nice and Marseilles/' says a correspondent With the Allied army invading southern France. “The operation is one vast enterprise of armies, planes and ships, planned and rehearsed down to the last detail.” The airborne assault which opened the landing is vividly described by a correspondent who flew with the troops. PLANES UNCHALLENGED Hundreds of paratroops. British and Americans, were dropped well inland in a valley on the far side of the coastal hills. Less than an hour later came an armada of troop-planes and gliders, flying four abreast in a procession a*"mile or two long, at 2000 ft. under a blue sky. fighters gleaming overhead and the Allied fleets below. During the flight over the coast and inland not a shot was fired from the air or the ground. No enemy planes or enemy troops were seen; In fact, was not a sign of life ih the rolling farmlands below, only at one point sotne smoke rising. Then, in a valley below them, they saw hundreds of lightly-coloured parachutes, draped over hedges and hanging to trees, left by the first troops to land in southern France. Down went the troop-carrying planes, while one by one the gilders slipped their town-lines and slid to earth. A Washington message says that the United States Secretary of the Navy, Mr Forrestal, was among the Allied leaders preseht In Italy during the recent discussions. COASTAL BATTERIES BOMBED The Rome correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain says American heavy bombers yesterday dropped over 1400 ton* of bombs in more than 50 separate attacks against enemy coastal batteries ih the regions of Toulon, Nice, Cannes and Genoa. About 750 unescorted heavy bombers carried out the raids, reports Reuter's correspondent at Allied Headquarters in Italy. Not a single German piano appeared to challenge them. Mustang and Lightning fighters smashed communications by strafing all radio stations on coastal areas.