The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-05-22
Picked French Shock
 Troops Retake Arras
(Continued From Page D

auxiliary with the military forma- tions,"
 Informed French army sources made estimates which im- piled that the Germans, as Reynaud had said, were paying q high price for their blltzkrleg. The German losses in wounded and killed were put at perhaps 50o,0o0 since the in- Vasion of Holland, with Q probable proportion of one killed to seven wounded, It was insisted that the Allied losses were but one-flfth those of the Germans,
 In the Arras battle, 1t was asser- ted, the French troops, plunging Into Q wild melee that covered miles of the ravaged plains of Picardy, hit the dangerously small motor. ized forces which the Germans had left to hold the city and quickly knocked them out.
 Reports said that the Germans were chiefly motorcyclists, who in cooperation with parachutlsts, had gone through the countrywide with torch and bomb.
 Nazis Had Entered Monday
 The Germans had entered Arras late Monday. They had failed pro- perly to organize their positions, 1t was asserted, and they were quick. ly overcome.
 The battered British expeditionary force had left Arras aflame after Q desperate, losing fight In the cityS burning streets. House and cross roads had been fortified and anti tank barriers thrown up in the streets. But the Germans had proved too strong, and after a day and night of fighting, the British had been forced out, their way lighted by the flames of burning homes.
 The turn, if momentary came on the blazing western front while the American consular staff here, in- cluding the passport visa depart. ments, was ordered to Bordeau and Nantes safe from the fighting zone. The embassy remains.
 At Amiens the Germans were 06 miles from Paris. The whole Amiens area, 1t was reported, was & wild melee among individual units.
 British and French troops were fighting running battles, back and forth, against German tank and motorcycle units. But the bulk Of the German forces were not yet in. volved
 Blow Up Somme Bridges
 A French source disclosed that the French had blown up bridges over the Somme at this point, and had entrenched themselves strongly on the south bank-a threat to the entire German wedge westward to the channel.
 Gen. Weygand was now in per- sonal command, issuing his battle orders from a field headquarters.
 By the recapture of Arras, and the entrenchment along the Somme, 1t was asserted, the French had cut the communications of the Germans in the far westward area.
 Thousands of thousands of French endorsements poured into battle areas under new instructions and strengthened the Allies along the German Hanks.
 Informants here believed that the German motorized blitzkrieg units might now be in dangerous position in their narrow corridor, an estin- ated GO miles, almost from the main body of their army behind the Scheldt River.
 The situation as described in the Somme valley in the 25 miles be- tween Amiens and Abbeville on the coast was that German motorcyclists were shutting back and forth in lightning raids but were unable to occupy the terrain.
 Action Bitterly Severe
 A military informant said that action in the Cambrai area was ex- tremely severe. British and French forces were fightin gside by side there. The British-Belgian army withdrawing from Belgium was fighting a strong rear guard action 1t was said.
 The Germans had taken Rethel in the Sedan area to the east of the present fighting field. but 1t was said today that they had failed to con- tinue their atatck and that the French had entrenched themselves on the south bank of the Aisne.
 German attacks with artillery and infantry on the Montmedy -Matinoi line sector had ceased, it was added
 Local German attacks southwest of Sedan were repulsed easily. il was said.
 The French informant told today how the Germans reached Abbe- vile.
 A single German motorcyclist ap- peared in the office of the station master after the last train had left Monday night. The station master and a detective in civilian clothes jumped the German, 1t was said But two more German motorcyclist' raced up. The Frenchmen, unarmed raced to the river bank. plunged 1T and tried to swim across. The Ger mans turned machine guns on them 1t was asserted. and killed the sta ton master. The detective escaped German B0mbings Ruinous German sir bombings had heel so destructive, 1t was said, mainly because of their superiority in mum bers. Any town which obstructs thu