Greatest Battle Of All Time

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21676, 10 June 1940, Page 5

Greatest Battle Of All Time

Germans Launch Terrific Offensive French Line Withstands Heavy Battering United Press Association-j-By Electric Telegraph—Copyright (Received June 9, 8.30 p.m.) PARIS, June 8. A FRENCH military spokesman to-night said: “The Battle of France” has reached its culminating point. To-day’s battle is the biggest of the war, the biggest of all time. The new German attack is the most formidable in military history. Nearly 500,000 men and 4000 tanks attacked at dawn over the whole front, 94 miles long. The battle is continuing. We do not know the result, but the situation is satisfactory. There is no retreat, only a strategic withdrawal along the Aumale-Noyon line.” The battle, according to well-informed French military circles, eclipses the biggest encounters of the last war in violence and ferocity. The German soldiers are marching shoulder to shoulder “like the Cimbres and Teutons who were their ancestors.” They seem intoxicated by danger as they march against the withering fire of French machineguns and cannon. A military spokesman said that a group of German tanks succeeded yesterday in getting through the French defences, but the group was isolated and deprived of infantry support. The French Command organised an extensive round-up against the group. Authoritative British circles state it is thought that the infiltration of German armoured units to which the Paris spokesman referred is the penetration to the region of Forge Les Eaux mentioned in the French communique. Any form of infiltration it is stated must cause alarm, but the French statements indicate that the German armoured units concerned have overrun themselves and are being held. Reports indicate that more than a million Germans are engaged in the present battle. It is still thought that the main German attack may yet be unrevealed. Nothing else has been received in London beyond what is outlined in the French communique.

The French day communique states: "The enemy armoured units reported last evening towards the valley of the lipper Bresle have increased their progress. Some advanced detachments, thrusting forward, reached the region of Forges les Eaux. The situation is the same on all the rest of the front. Forges les Eaux is a small spa on the Paris-Dieppe road, 38 miles south-west of Abbeville and 30 miles south-east of' Dieppe." To-night's French communique states: "The battle continued all day long over the whole front between the sea and Chemin des Dames. Westward of the Oise the enemy diminished his pressure on the lower Bresle. He concentrated his effort on the vast front between Aumale and Noyon. German infantry divisions which hitherto have remained in the rear have entered the line. Reinforced by powerful artillery they added their firing equipment to the armoured divisions previously engaged. More than a score of fresh Infantry divisions entered the struggle alongside the seven armoured divisions engaged yesterday. Our divisions succeeded in limiting the progress of this disproportionate effort with its own effectives which are making the withdrawal manoeuvre prescribed in directions. All reports say that the Germans suffered considerable losses.” The communique continues: “Enemy pressure eastward of the Oise was likewise accentuated. The Germans have thrown in fresh divisions and armoured units which have enabled them to gain a considerable footing on the heights southward of the Aisne. | Our units defended the ground foot by ; foot. In the course of the latest en- I gagements a group of artillery under Major Pouyat destroyed 38 German j tanks. One battery commanded by Captain Vandelle destroyed 19. Another group commanded by Major Junin, which was attacked from a distance of 100 metres, destroyed 17. Our air force was intensely active, vigorously harassing the enemy. Armoured units were again attacked by cannon. Tanks on new grounds have been bombed and road convoys hit and dispersed. More than 150 machines protected by British and French lighters, dropped an enormous tonnage of bombs on columns and enemy concentrations early in the afternoon." Fierce Resistance The Germans debouched at dawn from the region southward from Amiens from Roye and mass attacked the French positions on a 60-milc front between Aumale and Noyon. They met fierce resistance and suffered enormous losses in the face of point blank fire from automatic arms

and massed Intervention by the Allied Air Force, which literally is dominating the battlefield, repeatedly operating from a height of 65 feet. French bombers co-operating with the British and protected by fighters are attacking in squadrons of 150 machines. In spite of their numerical inferiority the French troops did not hesitate to ’eave their entrenched strong points to free their positions by short and terrible counter-attacks. By the end of the afternoon, faced by a veritable flow of German forces, the High Command gave the order to fall back. This was carried out in perfect order and although the Germans secured an advantage they have not broken through. The fighting on the Aisne was equally terrible. The Germans by the end of the afternoon had consolidated their hold on a bridgehead where the French are violently counter-attacking. The Germans are now in country cut by numerous rivers and high-banked roads ill-suited for tanks,

A French military spokesman states that between 200 and 300 German tanks penetrated as far as Forges Les Eaux. A certain number are now threatened with destruction. He added that the British and French strong points on the Bresle River continued to hold the line.

General Weygand Satisfied The semi-official Telei'rance Agency reports that between 200 and 300 German tanks passed through the French line in the Bresle sector. With reference to the French withdrawal to several strong points between the sea and Soissons, the spokesman, summing up, said the situation was serious but the French line was holding everywhere. A warning should be given against excessive optimism and pessimism, the spokesman added. The opposing forces were still grappling with ever increasing violence. The French repulsed repeated attempts to cross the Aisne west of Soissons after bitter fighting. General Weygand is satisfied with the manner in which the battle is developing. The French wireless commentator said: “The front now goes from south of the river Bresle to south of Ham, continues on the high land to the north of Soissons where it rejoins the course of the Aisne. This reduces the length of the front.” The French spokesman earlier said that the redrawing of the French line with the centre of the battlefront in the region of Amiens, Peronne and Ham was effected in order to straighten out the line following German progress on two wings to the west of the Somme to Bresle and to the east from Ailette to the Aisne.

The German High Command reports that operations south of the Somme and the Aisne-Oisle canal are progressing satisfactorily. The enemy also was thrown back south of the lower Somme. Our aircraft strongly supported the army south of the Somme and bombed troop concentrations and gun positions. General Weygand in an Order of the Day to his troops states: “The battle for France has begun. The order is to defend our positions without any thought of withdrawal.” After the first two days of the battle General Weygand congratulated the armies on the tenacity with which they had executed his instructions. He said that the Fatherland had been wounded by invaders, and it was that fact that would inspire them to hold on. They should look only forward, and remember that their future freedom, and the freedom of their sons, depended on their steadfastness. A British Embassy communique states that Lieutenant-General H. R. Pownall arrived in France and conferred with General Weygand and General Georges. Lieutenant-General Pownall has been Lord Gort’s Chief of Staff since October.