The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-05-22
NAzIS SQUEEZE
 ALLIED ARMIES
tContinued from Page D

NCOHtlnueQ ITom fuRe lI
 3. Fierce fighting against the British in Flanders (in the center of the German trap and the repuls- ing of an Allied attempt to break through the trap by counter assault, led by British tanks, near ArraS.
 {. Heavy aerial bombardment of the Belgiau port of Ostend and of the French ports of Dunkirk, Calais Bouloene and Dieppe These are the rear doors through which the British and other Allied forces trapped in the north might retire, and the off, cial news agency said that Germany's air fleet had orders to destroy" the "retreating" British either in the ports or on their ships,
 Speedy Ar Attack
 Tho high command said that the German air force yesterday had made successful attacks, especially on the enemy's rear communications lines.
 The communique said that the AL lies lost i20 planes, including 35 shot down in air battles and l4 brought down by German anti-aircraft guns Ten German planes were reported missing.
 The railroad stations at Compiegne and Criel were set aflre, tho commu- nique said. (The World war armis- tice was signed In Compiegne foresO
 Tho communique also said that in French and Belgian harbors and of tho coasts, the German air force had destroyed ono cruiser and il mer- chantmen or transports. Several other ships also were destroyed, it said.
 German speed boats, attacking the French channel ports, sank ono en- emy auxiliary cruiser, it was added The communique said that the Germans had captured l5,i00 Dutch Belgian and French prisoners and taken a powerful Belgian fort at Neufchateau, near Liege.
 It charged that enemy airplanes "aimlessly" bombed western Ger many usually hitting the open coun- try but missing oil military objec- tives. Two of tho planes were re- ported shot down.
 End of War Near
 Military sources said today the end of the war now was "only a matter of Q few weeks," and that German troops pouring westward through Belgium and northwestern France soon would be ready for a blitzkrieg on Great Britain.
 The German column of 60,000 mo- torized troops which crashed through to the English channel at Abbeville was being strengthened by new waves Of motorized infantry which poured into the breach to control communications to the rear, the Ger mans said.
 The two Allied armies-one in Belgium and the other in France were separated by 8 wedge which the Germans were trying to widen by pushing westward out of Bel gium toward Valenciennes.
 The German bulge" in northern France was moving southward and at one point was about 65 miles from Paris, German sources said.
 It was claimed that Germany now rules the air In the west because according to German figures, the Allies have lost about 2,000 planes in the last II days.
 Great Battle Rages
 What was described by the official news agency as "the greatest offen- sive battle of all time" still was in progress along a 60-mile front from Cambrai to the sea, and military dispatches indicated that 1t had no, yet reached a climax. But German military circles said that there was no doubt as to its outcome.
 Only last Thursday authorized German quarters had said that what then was characterized as the battle of Belgium would be wor by Germany in seven days, marking the beginning of the end of the war"
 Military circles believed that the swath German troops were cutting across northern France formed the climax of operations on the contin- ent, and that the next move was al the British Isles.
 By reaching Abbeville, the Ger. mans said, they had eliminated al- most half of Frances great Maginot line for effective defense operations and had gained a foothold from which to cut channel communica. tions between the Allies.
 The official news agency said that the French forces in the valen. ciennes area. about 80 miles from the Belgian west coast, were Icon. stantly nter-attacking," but wer, thrown into confusion by the Ger. man wedge dividing them. Germans also said there was nov mo effective Allied army betweer the advancing German forces ana | Rheims and Paris"