Evening star., 1940-05-24
Flanders Battle
Is Continuing
In Third Day
By the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
PARIS, May 24.-The Allied armie
caught German armored columns ir
an artillery crossfire today in ,
new effort to cut the Reich Army!
corridor to the sea and turn the tide
Of the battle for mastery of thu
English Channel.
Masses of allied infantry also
weighed down on the German Sail.
ent, pressing south from Flander'
fields in the Cambria region ane
north from the Somme River in q
pincers movement designed to break
of the spearhead which has TWISTED
west to the channel coast.
This turn in the campaign
brought into full play for the first
time the two branches of the service
in which the Allies claim superiority
/ A corridor 80 miles wide separate!
the central French Army on tn.
Somme from the northern Allied
armies of French. British and Bel.
gian troops in Flanders. Through
that gap German mechanized force,
are pushing northwest to the sea.
On both sides Of the corridor the
Allies today installed artillery bat.
teries which ranged from the ia.
nous French "75s" (3-inch guns) tc
the heaviest pieces which could be
hauled up.
Allied Junction Sought.
Their fire raked the German COL
umns constantly. while Allied
planes defying acknowledged Ger
man air superiority-ventured over
the German salient to bomb and
machine-gun roads and troop con-
centrations.
Some Allied mechanized forces
lurked just outside the corridor,
lying in wait for German motor
cyclists and advance guard and
challenging the heavy German tanks
to frequent skirmishes.
The German columns in this Sec
tor have discarded the hame-throw-
Ing tanks they used 10 cut through
the Meuse River Notifications in
Northern France last week, military
reports said. Instead, they are using
tanks equipped with machine guns.
The hame-throwers had only q TO-
yard range.
While the Northern Allied Army
fought southwark ir. the Cambria :
Valenciennes region French forces
OF the Somme were fighting rorth-
ward to attempt to effect junction
at a point which remains a military
secret
Weygand Sees Reynaud.
In Paris, Gen. Maxine Weygand
fresh from the front, conferred with
Premier Reynaud and Vice Premier
Marshal Petain. M. Reynaud main
tanned Anglo French diplomatic liai-
son by comforting with the British
Ambassador, Sir Ronald Hugh
Campbell.
At the western extremity of the
German spearhead French advance
guards are reported to have caught
up with the German light armored
units near the Channel port of Bou-
logne, and sharp fighting is under
way, according to military spokes-
man. 1t is only 26 miles across the
Channel from Boulogne to Folke-
stone. England.
Battle Near B0uIOgne.
French advance guards fought Wig
orously against small German light
units In the region of the English
Channel near Boulogne, military
spokesman said, while the battle
OF Flanders ragged into its third day
with sustained violence eastward in
the vicinity of Valenciennes.
Earlier, the French spokes-
man acknowledged that the
German inf1ltration to the Bou-
logne area was continuing through a
25-mile gap in the Allied lines south
Of Arras in the vicinity of Bapaume.
Allied troops, the French spokes-
man said, were trying to plug up
the gap in the allied lines near
Bapaume, but German troops con-
tinued to move northwest through
the opening.
The spokesman said there was
little change since yesterday in the
fighting in the Valenciennes- Cam
brai-Arras area, where the French
then claimed gains.
French, English and Belgian
troops were said to have repulsed
German attacks and themselves
counterattacked. The positions
were said to have remained relative
ly the same overnight.
Positions Held Firmly.
A high command communioue
unusually terse, said that the Somme
River positions had been held firmly
after q series of small French VIC
tories reducing German bridgeheads
on the southern bank.
The French push into the south
ern sections of Amiens yesterday
was maintained, the French spokes-
man said. French action was said
to have thrown back German out
posts and to have established strong
French positions from which Ger
man units were being mopped up.
The Germans met With little or
no success" In fighting farther east
ward south Of Sedan, near Attigny,
on the Aisne River, he reported.
The NaZi command, 1t was said,
launched an attack with perhaps .
division" Of troops after . tremen-
(see PARIS. Page Ax50