Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-08-18
Hitler Is Preparing
Surprise Assault,
lochner Reports
Channel Clear Of Ships,
Newsmon Says After
Three-Doy Tour
By LOUIS P. LOCHNER,

Associated Press War Correspondent.
WITH THE GERMAN ARMY ON
THE FRENCH COAST, Aug. H.
What I saw In three days WITH Ger
man troops on this coastline oppo-
site England indicates Adolf Hitler
has another surprise ready.
On the surface there is little that
meets the eye to suggest the i'm
minence of an attempt to invade
England. Although most people be-
lieve invasion of the island kingdom
Is Hitler's aim, and German news
papers make no secret of it, German
camouflage in this coastal region is
so clever an unframed observer
would imagine nothing Of the sort
was afoot.
But I am familiar with German
camoufage methods and what saw
was more than enough to convince
me that Hitler, if and when Der Tag
comes, will once again surprise the
world.
And it is all being done so meth
odically and with such precision that
he can set the zero hour as he
chooses, irrespective of wind and
weather and season.
Saw No Channel Conveys.
English flyers do what they can
by night to disturb the preparations,
but by day the English Channel
once one of the most crowded sea-
lanes in the world-seems a picture
Of desolation.
In three days I motored up and
down the coast between Ostend and
Boulogne. Although I stood on high
promontories commanding superb
views of the Channel, including the
chalk cliffs of Dover I saw not one
British convoy, nor any good-sized
ship.
Two German mine-sweepers and
q fishing smack were all I could dis
Germ moving over the desolate water
way. There were plenty of motion
less tunnels showing above the wa
tiers Of harbors l visited-all re-
minders of the battles for Ostend,
Calais, Dunkerque-and plenty of
stranded ships on beaches and reefs.
Planes Roaring Overhead.
The air above the channel, how
ever. was full of activity; in fact.
planes were roaring over our heads
nearly all the time.
Spectators on the sidelines of the
battle for England, we watched
speedy Messerschmitt pursuit planes
rocketing to giddy heights and
darting across the Channel, saw
heavily armed combat craft roar
Ing toward England, saw squadrons
Of Germany's heaviest bombers
droning ominously westward with
loads of death and destruction.
Such was the picture we saw day
after day. Sometimes they passed
In tiny groups of nine; then flights
of 18 and 81; sometimes great
swarms of so or more. Disappear
ing in the f1eecy clouds, they reap
peared some time later like silvery
fish crossing the deep blue sky
coming back for another load of
bombs
Coast Heavily Fortified.
We could not see where the Ger
mans dropped their bombs. and all
We could hear was series of heavy
detonations, interspersed with the
thud-thud and boom-boom of
British anti-aircraft batteries. After
half an hour the Germans would
return, sometimes in perfect forma-
ton, sometimes more irregularly.
Occasionally a mad chase would
develop, with British pursuit
plane screaming after the bombers.
There would be a quick, furious ex-
change of firing and then sudden
about-face by German fighters
stabbing back at the Englishman.
In a few minutes it would be all
over.
Our inspection of the coast-line
left no doubt that the Germans had
fortified it heavily against a pos
sible counter-a attack from England.