GERMAN CLAIMS OF SUCCESS

Southland Times, Issue 24154, 17 June 1940, Page 9

GERMAN CLAIMS OF SUCCESS

CAPTURE OF MANY ALLIED PRISONERS BERLIN, June 13. The German High Command communique states that over 26,000 prisoners were taken at St. Valerie. The total number of prisoners since June 5 is over 100,000. The Allies’ losses in war material are very considerable. The two German Armies on the Western flank alone captured 2000 Allied tanks.

Operations are proceeding rapidly along the entire front. “We crossed the Marne at many points. Our divisions have captured Chalons and have passed beyond the battlefields of 1918 and have gained ground between the Argonne and the Meuse.

“Our planes sank one transport and a large troop laden tug was badly damaged as also was another transport and a large number of small ships. We shot down twenty barrage balloons at Le Havre.

“Our fighters in Norway shot down four of 15 British planes attempting to attack an aerodrome near Trondheim. “The Allies scattered bombs over Northern Germany but failed to hit military objectives. The enemy lost 19 planes. Four German planes are missing. A U-boat sank many ships during an attack on a large Allied convoy.” The German spokesman said that the fate of Paris would be decided within a few hours. The High Command proposed to broadcast to the French inviting the capital to capitulate. The only alternative would be heavy shelling.

The News Agency in announcing that Allied aeroplanes last night bombed towns in Prussia, destroying many houses, said: “This will not be forgotten.”