ESCAPE GAP REDUCED

Waikato Times, Volume 195, Issue 22428, 16 August 1944, Page 3

ESCAPE GAP REDUCED

GERMANS’ PLIGHT NEAR FALAISE ROCKET-FIRING TYPHOONS DESTROY TANKS CANADIAN OFFENSIVE PROGRESSING LONDON, August 15. Tlie German escape gap from the Falaise salient has been reduced to about 10 miles. The “bag” is believed still to contain about 50,000 Germans, a similar number probably having passed through the gap. The Germans have been massing tanks near Falaise for a counter-attack but rocket-firing Typhoons have been taking toll of them. The Canadian offensive toward Falaise—the biggest development in the past 24 hours—went even better than was planned. The attack was opened with the dropping of 4000 tons of fragmentation and other bombs, which carpeted the defences of the deep valley of the Laison river on the inland side of the CaenFalaise highway. The defenders were so badly shaken that they were unable to hold the Canadian armoured columns coming in. The latest reports said the Canadians were still going ahead and consolidating on the high ground toward the main German communication line through Falaise. They were within a mile or two of Falaise. Nearer the Orne the British Second Army also is on the move. Here the attack is outflanking a strong screen of anti-tank guns that met the earlier Canadian advance in Falaise. The leading troops were last reported only three miles from the highway above the salient. Another British thrust is closing on the highway still further back.

“ACCORDING TO PLAN”

FLEET OF 800 SHIPS WARSHIPS POUND BATTERfES (Received Aug. 16, 11.45 a.m.) RUGBY, Aug. 15 Satisfactory progress in the operations in southern France is reported in a special communique from the Allied Headquarters in the Mediterranean area, which states: “Today, in the middle of the morning, our disembarkation operations are proceeding successfully according to plan. The troops are encountering only weak resistance from enemy ground forces. The operations of the Allied airborne troops which supported the disembarkation were also carried out successfully.” Following the five days’ hammering which the Allied air forces have given German positions along the Italian Riviera and the French coast to the west, Allied ground troops j went ashore from an invasion fleet of 800 ships at several points, writes a correspondent. Before the assault boats pushed off big Allied warships pounded the coastal batteries. The Germans had been building and reinforcing these since last August and they include many deeply-embedded 14-inch coastal guns, protected by thick walls of steel. The operations closely followed the pattern of those in Normandy on “D-Day.” During the night parachutists dropped behind the Germans’ defence. At daybreak gliders followed the parachutists in. At 8 o’clock a procession of ships and “ducks” began shuffling to the shore. They landed in calm, clear weather. An Italy correspondent says that bombers continued to assault the ' souther n France invasion areas this afternoon, when heavy bombers bombed five highway bridges across the Rhone river and medium bombers attacked beach and gun installations on a 30-mile sector from west of Cannes to east of Toulon. BLASTING FROM AIR INVASION OBSTACLES BOMBED HUGE LOAD DROPPED LONDON, Aug. 15 Reuter’s correspondent at the Allied Headquarters in Italy says that the full weight of the great Mediterranean Allied Air Force was thrown into the assault to help blast a way inland for the invasion troops. An hour before the airborne troops landed ton after ton of bombs cascaded against the beach defences to knock nut or render ineffective any invasion obstacles which had survived the past fortnight’s plaster. Heavy bombers and tactical planes in semi-darkness dropped a huge load against gun positions, strongpoints, coast defences, troop concentrations and supply dumps, while further inland airfields and lines of communications were repeatedly attacked.

SUPPLY ROUTES MENACED

OPPORTUNITY FOR MAQUIS VILLAGERS WELCOME TROOPS (Received Aug. 16, 1 p.m.) LONDON, Aug. 15 If the Berlin radio reports that the Allies between Nice and Cannes are correct it means that* the Germans will lose their principal road and rail supply route to the Italian battlefront, says the American Press. The main Paris-Ventimigla railway runs parallel to the sea along the French Riviera. Moreover, national highway No. 10 from Marseilles to the Italian frontier runs in the same direction. French circles in London consider that the Maquis will be able more directly to aid the Allies in Southern France than they could in Normandy. From their mountain strongholds they should be able to harass the German troops, who in Southern ( France consist mainly of infantry, with equipment inferior to that of the Germans in Normandy. The Berlin radio says: There is not yet a cohesive front in Southern France. The enemy, apparently is all-out to seize the Gulf of Saint Tropez and the airfield of Saint Raphael, in order to land reinforcements by sea and air. Airborne troops dropped near the mouth of the Argens river. An American broadcaster from Southern France said that village and country people welcomed the invaders sincerely but not with a tremendous outburst of enthusiasm. The sudden barrage from the sea, frightened and surprised them. They had a few friends killed and they had suffered a long time. Pilots of Lightnings sweeping Southern France invasion beaches late on August 15 encountered the first German planes, which had been seen—eighteen Messerschmitts, of which without loss they shot down three, reports the American press. GERMANS IN TRAP ENEMY TROOPS’ LAST RUSH BRITISH CAPTURE CENTRE (Received Aug. 16, 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, Aug. 15 Half of von Kluge’s army inside the Falaise-Argentan pocket is believed to have escaped, but the number of Germans still in the sack is estimated at 50,000, states Reuter’s correspondent with the British forces tonight. Typhoons all day have been blitzing the enemy armour which was observed massing in the Falaise sector _for a counter-attack. The British United Press correspondent said that this may be a decisive night for the German Seventh Army. He added that the enemy is making a last rush through the gap. Some troops which have escaped are believed to be panzers and crack S.S. divisions. It was disclosed today that all bridges over the Orne river in the sack area have been broken for days by bombs and gunfire and substitute bridges are smashed as fast as the Germans try to build them. The correspondent considers that the gap has been virtually closed for I the remaining heavy armour, j British infantry today captured St. j Denis de Mere, two miles north-east ! of Conde. I PROBLEMS FOR GERMANS WILL THEY MAKE STAND? MAY LOSE LARGE FORCE (Omelai \Vlreie«m (Received August 16, noon) RUGBY, August 15. I Opinions vary as to whether the ; German forces in Normandy are attempting to retreat from the pocket, : roughly 30 miles across, in which | the Allies are rounding them up. | Some observers, judging by the j small amount of movement of troops and supplies through the Falaise gap, consider that the enemy army ; is standing its ground, as the Sixth ! Army did in somewhat similar cir- | cumstances at Stalingrad. In support of this view it is pointed | out that the country between Falaise j and Mortain generally is thickly ! wooded, with many hedges and I leafy lanes, whereas east of Falaise ! there are wider open stretches. In 1 the present case the bulk of the Ger- ; man armour in western Europe is thought to be either inside the ring or committed to battle elsewhere in Normandy. The Germans at present have a [ number of urgent problems cn | hand. In the first place they are faced with the immediate danger of losing the greater part of their best remaining army in the west. Secondly they must fight a campaign in southern France. Civilian casualties in Britain due to air raids in July were 2441 killed or missing believed killed and 7107 injured and detained in hospital. DNESDAY, AUGUST 10, 1944 3