INVASION DEFENCES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25214, 1 May 1943, Page 6

INVASION DEFENCES

NAZI EFFORTS IN HOLLAND Newspapers in Switzerland continue to describe the German defences in the occupied territory of Holland, and to raise the question whether it will be possible for Allied land forces to overcome these hazards. The Swiss newspaper Der Bund, of April 9, described the main feature of these defences—the colossal anti-tank trench, which is very wide and deep and filled with water, and which runs along the greater part of the coast. Different roads are blocked with mammoth concrete walls, and the countryside bristles with gun and ma-chine-gun positions. The defence system includes elaborate barbed wire entanglements which, however, still seem to be incomplete. The Germans claim that their defence system will annihilate any attempts made to enter Holland’s waterways from the sea, which would mean that the Allies would have to use barges to attempt landings on the fiat coastland where a miles-long defence wall and trench run. The report from the correspondent of the Swiss newspaper. however, is that the defence system in several places is not yet completed, and not yet camouflaged. Inland, motorised reserves stand ready day and night, equipped with light and heavy guns, motorised artillery, tank-busting weapons, smokescreen installations, and flame-throwers which are said to throw fire at least 70 yards. Another Swiss newspaper, the Basler Nachrichten, says that the above-men-tioned anti-tank trap is 13 yards wide.