The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1940-07-12

yOVETLIIl6IlL Ile6lHR 70 NOECkl
Bordeaux disclosed today. II
Of the French army and Of t
governments course were rel
an American who followed the his
tory-mAking event from the Ger
man break through on the Meuse
River to the conclusion Of the ARM
htive.
Here Is how he told the story:
"The sudden breakdown Of the
French armies was o tremendous
surprise but. looking backward, it,
can be seen how Adolf Hitler must
have known from the technical IN.
formation at his command that 1t
was impossible for the French army
to Withstand the tremendous
strength Of the Germans.
Nevertheless, the turning point
appears to have been the German
crossing Of Meuse In the so-called
Givet Loop and success Of that OPP
Grafton must have surprised the
Germans as much as the French.
'"The Germans punched at the
Meuse in the Givet Loop merely as
secondary operation, intended to
force the French to pull troops back
from Belgium. The Germans APP
parently- did not expect to break
through at that point. They hit
the Mouse river defenses with only
o1e-half Of q Panzer (mechanized)
division or about 5000 men, 400
tanks and 1900 vehicles.
Just Feeling 1t Out
''They apparently were merely
feeling It out. Yet when they got
down to the river, in valley with
walls as abrupt as the Grand Can |
yon and therefore easily defended,
they found that the French had not |
destroyed the bridges, but had re-
treated leaving everything intact. OF |
course, the Germans proceeded to |
pour tanks across and widen a |
bridgehead. Twelve hours later four |
British pilots dove on the bridge and |
blew 1t up, at the cost Of the lives |
Of three Of them. Then 1t was too |
late because the French were pushed |
back so far that the Germans could |
lay pontoon bridges without inter-
ference.
THAT was a turning point be-
cause the German tank formations
Immediately headed for Laon and
scissors. I was at one army head
quarters on that day and there were
rurnors that the Germans had brok-
en- through but no one believed 1t
possible. although admittedly the
two French divisions holding the
sector were poor ones and were made
up largely Of Parisians who had
been rounded up and sent to the
front In lncp-up Of alleged slack
ers. Hall Of each division also was
far IN Their rear helping with spring
planting and working In sugar fac
tories.
Nasis Could Be Stopped
later on it would have been COM
paratively easy to have stopped the
German motorized columns south Of
the Somme, but so much material
had been left behind In the retreat
from Belgium that the army had in
sufficient munitions, and little ar
tillery. Troops shot at tanks with
rifles and machine guns but 1t was
like shooting at crocodiles with
bean shooters.
''The spectacle Of the French gov
eminent In flight was still lmoer de-
pressing. OF the many politicians
who fled to Tours and then to Bor-
deaux, Pierre Laval (former premier
and now vice-premier) emerged the
dominant figure. Laval called upon
members Of the government to stay
in France at a time when all Of
them talked Of going to North AZ
RIGA.
Laval Oong been known as an
advocate Of French cooperation with
italy, got together q group of SEN
ators and deputies and called on
President Albert Lebrun.
Pointed Talk TO Lebrun
"fiis remarks to Lebrun were de.
scribed as extremely pointed and
he described what he thought would
result II the government leaders fled
and left millions Of Frenchmen at
the mercy Of the German armies.
Laval's sarcasm was described as