FURIOUS BATTLES

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVI, Issue 22934, 3 July 1944, Page 5

FURIOUS BATTLES

Danes Fighting Germans (6.30 p.m.) NEW YORK, July 1. Fifteen thousand Danish underground troops, equipped with machine-guns and automatic rifles, are reported to have launched an attack against the German garrison at Copenhagen, numbering about 3000, says the Stockholm correspondent of the “New York Times.” Fighting is especially bitter near the main railroad station. The Nazis commandeered all private trucks and automobiles to bring troops to Copenhagen, because a strike and sabotage have immobilised all railways. Furious street battles continued all night, while the inhabitants, defying the Nazi curfew, are openly challenging the Wehrmacht. They are flying British and American flags, singing the United Nations’ national anthems and lighting bonfires from Nazi books and newspapers.

The Danish radio, which for several hours continued playing gramophone records, suddenly went off the air without explanation, supposedly because Danish saboteurs destroyed the power station. The Swedish radio announced that the strike situation in Copenhagen had become extremely serious in the last 24 hours. It was estimated that between 300,000 and 400,000 men had stopped work. Reports reaching Malnioe state that barricades flying American, British. Russian and Danish flags filled the streets of Copenhagen to-night when Danish patriots continued the battle against German troops who are seeking to break up the two-day demonstration, says the Stockholm correspondent of the Associated Press. The Danes say a general strike started in Copenhagen yesterday, and brought to a standstill water, electricity and transport services, causing food supplies to dwindle. Hospitals are filled with casualties. Reports trickling in to Southern Sweden state lhat more than 700 have already been killed or wounded. The Germans are reported to have threatened to shoot hostages and bomb the capital unless the Danes call off the strike.