ATTACK BEGUN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23996, 20 June 1941, Page 7

ATTACK BEGUN

CITY OF DAMASCUS

VICHY OPPOSITION

ULTIMATUM REJECTED

(Herd. 11.30 p.m.) LONDON, June 19 Allied forces are now attacking Damascus. This information was given early this morning by a military spokesman in Jerusalem. He said that a good deal of opposition, as was expected, was being encountered. Continuous pressure was being exerted by Allied forces all along the line south and cast of the capital. The attack, which began at this morning, followed the occupation bv the All ies of M C7./.C, four miles west of the capital. According to the Frec French radio at Jerusalem, General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson requested General Dentz to withdraw his troops from the capital to save the city from attack. Failing a reply by 5.30 a.m., action would be taken. All important heights have been occupied.

An earlier agency message quoted by British official wireless said that only a favourable opportunity was awaited to throw in Indian and Free French forces to assault Damascus. These forces, according to this report, had reached the western suburbs of the city. Vichy troops were delaying tho assault on tho city by heavy shelling of the road. Colonel Collet, the Frco French commander, and Circassians were reported to he closing in on the city.

Vichy troops worn still holding out at Mezzo, but Allied troops, including Indians, were reported to be pushing along the main road past Kiswe and to the east in the mountainous district of .Tabour Atrizo. A Jerusalem message states that Australian advance units are now 20 miles north of Sidon on the way to Beirut. GLOVES OFF NOW WAR RAGING FIERCELY LONDON, .Tunc 10 The increased rcsistanoe of the Vichy forces has resulted in abandonment of the Allied kid-glove policy in manv areas in Syria. In spite of Vichy having thrown in all its reserves in an effort to stem the Allied advance, our corrective action has been most successful. The necessity for a clean-up of the mobile Vichy parties has slowed up the investment of Damascus. Accounts from Beirut declare that increasingly powerful elements, particularly of artillery, are operating on hotli sides, and the war of movement is raging fiercely between the coast and the Jebel Druse country, with heavy fighting particularly along the lines of communication and at crossroads in the Allied rear.

WOMEN TO REGISTER LONDON, June IK All female British subjects born in 1917 are required to register and give particulars about themselves on Saturday. June 2<S. says a British official wireless message