INVASION ARMIES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25306, 17 August 1943, Page 2

INVASION ARMIES

SURPRISES FOR FOE FIRE-POWER AND MOBILITY LONDON, July 27. Anglo-American invasion armies have some sensational surprises for the Germans. When they blast their way forward from Continental bridgeheads they will throw into action an array of tanks and armoured cars that bristle with 1 secrets. This is the opinion of a noted United States war correspondent after a visit to one of Britain s latest armoured fighting schools. Facts point to this conclusion—that, when the Allied air forces have pulverised the first defences of Europe, Allied armies will surge forward with fire-power and mobility that will amaze the enemy. Tanks have new weapons, new defences and new speeds. A whole gallery of tanks whose very names are secret will be ranged beside them. The “ second front ” will be fougnt with a new generation of armoured car. Engines, guns, and armour have been harnessed in a variety of combinations to meet every type of combat that Europe can provide. New' tactics have been perfected for armoured battles on the Continent. Tank crews have wheeled and swerved under genuine fire from tanks and anti-tank guns. In co-operation with armoured cars, anti-aircraft tanks and supporting planes have forged a polished instrument for combined operations against Germany. Captured German tanks have played their part in the training. Every conceivable type of anti-tank obstacle has been reproduced and mastered. Alongside armoured columns, artillery crews have trained with equally secret weapons. In Britain to-day the coasts are alive with invasion craft, and innumerable fields and woods and shady lanes are shaking beneath armoured forces as formidable as they are secret.