ASSAULT PARTIES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25068, 9 November 1942, Page 3

ASSAULT PARTIES

INITIAL SUCCESSES VITAL COASTAL AREAS (Rec. 1 a.m.) LONDON, Nov. 8. The first reports, which the Allied headquarters in North Africa emphasised should be accepted with caution, say that American assault parties made successful landings on the beaches in two vital coastal areas, occupying important initial objectives near the beaches. The British United Press correspondent at General Eisenhower’s headquarters says the Anglo-American landings were made both on the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of French North Africa. According to the American Associated Press correspondent, the landings were made at numerous places simultaneously, although hundreds of miles apart. The United Press correspondent at the North African headquarters of the American vanguard says that amphibious and air-borne troops are smashing inland to seize control of the French airfields and communication centres in order to open the way for mass landings. A Vichy report states that 63 Allied vessels are operating off North Africa. They include four aircraft carriers, four battleships, 17 cruisers, destroyers, and 20 transports. _ . . , The French forces m Algeria before the war totalled 85,000, but now there are probably more. General Juki has some of France’s crack colonial troops and probably a certain number of the French Foreign Legion, whose headquarters are normally at Sidi de Abbas, in Algeria. General Juki's regiments include Algerian sharpshooters and Spahis. who are brilliant cavalrymen. The French communications across the desert are by land and air. The army is fully familiar with the tracks, and there are aerodromes even in the middle of the desert and the fastness of the Atlas mountains. . Algiers is a big modern city, with extensive docks and a population of 250,000, most of them Europeans. The city is strongly fortified and the harbour berths the largest vessels. Tunisia’s principal air and naval base is Bizerta. There have been reports that Axis submarines used the Moroccan Atlantic ports.

FORCES IN ALGIERS RADIO STATION CAPTURED GENERAL GIRAUD’S BROADCAST (Rec. 1 a.m.) LONDON, Nov. 8. It is officially announced from Vichy that United States troops have landed at Algiers and in the surrounding district. The situation is serious. The Vichy radio says that a De Gaullist movement has broken out in Morocco.

According to the Vichy radio the action began spasmodically at Algiers at 3 15 a.m., and increased in violence with the dawn. Telephone communications were immediately cut. An air raid warning was sounded at 3.55. although the air activity was negligible. Gunfire and machine-gun fire were heard coming nearer at 6.30. The population remained calm. General Giraud, who escaped from a German prison camp last spring, in a bi’oadcast from the Algiers radio, appealed to the Vichy forces to support him in welcoming the American invasion. “For the last two years we

have scrupulously observed the terms of the armistice despite repeated violations by our enemies,” he said. “Today Germany and Italy want to occupy North Africa, but America forestalls them. She assures us of her loyal and disinterested support. This is our chance for a revival. We cannot neglect this opportunity of recovery. I take my action station as one of you. Our only aim is victory.”