FALAISE – ARGENTAN GAP

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24972, 15 August 1944, Page 5

FALAISE - ARGENTAN GAP

ALLIED FORCES_NOW CLOSING IN ENEMY COLUMNS HEADING EAST TERRIFIC PUNISHMENT FROM AIR By ieletjiaph Press Association—Copyright (Received Augu.t 14, 6.30 p.m.) LONDON, August 14 The survival of the German Seventh Army in France is at stake as the Allies close in on the Western Front. A desperate struggle centres on the Falaise gap, and the latest reports indicate that 20 miles now separate elements of the American Army at Argentan from the First Canadian Army and the British Second Army near Falaise. All day yesterday, in August sunshine,' the German columns were taking back further into France every man and vehicle that could be spared from the German rearguard battle. British and Canadians have been pressing forward on the right flank above Falaise and our artillery has been bombarding the highway. British columns have been driving into German rearguards toward Conde, south-west of Falaise. At some points they have lost contact with the Germans and were last reported about two miles from Conde. There are signs that the front is loosening up at the deepest part of the 30-mile salient, where American armour and infantry, with powerful artillery support, have stepped up their pressure in the Mortain area. are advancing out of touch at some points with the German covering forces. While there is no doubt now that the Germans are retreating from the salient with all possible speed, says the British official wireless, there is equally no doubt that the Allied air forces are rising to the occasion in weather which permits full opportunity to be taken of this eleventh-hour withdrawal. The German coliunns moving back in daylight are being subjected to terrific punishment from the air. A high Allied staff officer described the air assault as an "all-out air effort." One pilot said: "The roads were full of all kinds of motor transport, with long columns of buses and troop transports. We attacked everything. A number of vehicles blew up. Some must have been carrying petrol, because petrol smoke rose 4000 ft." A late despatch from the front line states that German traffic is reported lo be choking the roads as far as Paris as the enemy evacuates the Mortain-Vire line. Front-line reports of the German retreat are still regarded cautiously, according to Supreme Headquarters at midnight. If a withdrawal is occurring, it is definitely orderly as far as the forward enemy troops are concerned. Resistance at both ends of the line is stiff. It is known that some enemy armour has moved eastward, but there is no widespread withdrawal. The Stockholm correspondent of the Times says Berlin commentators frankly admit that Allied troops have burst the dam which the German armies formed to cover Paris and that they are now sweeping over the broad countryside.