The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-05-23

the Cambrai sector, the communi. que said.
 What It Claimed
 l. The German offensive throuel, Belgian Flanders and across the River 6chcldt was gaining ground slowly despite tho strong resistanct of the enemy. This was tho mair front held by the British.
 2, The German Spearhead thrust through North France and to tho River Somme to close the tray on Allied forces is still pushing northward in the general direction Of Calais, only 22 miles from the shores of England. tThis point !i where channel swimmers cross the Dover straits).
 3. Pierce fighting is in progress around Valenciennes, and in the nearby Cambrai sector of France where oil efforts by the Allied troops to break through the Ger. man troop have been repulsed with heavy losses.
 {. German speedboats continued to dart along the channel coast attacking enemy WarShipS ano merchant vessels, and succeeded In sinking an Allied destroyer ofi Dundirk.
 Enemy On Defensive
 On the southern front, from the Somme to the Mouse rivers, the high command said, "the enemy is on the defensive"
 The communique asserted that 0b0 Allied troops have been taken prisoner when the second group oi the Liege fortihcetions ct Batiqe | surrendered. One fort at Mamui was said to be still holding out.
 The communique said that fight. ing still was In progress around Vaienciennes, where the Allicd were reported to be attacking fur- iousiy tho Germans were said to have "mopped up" the Mormla woodlands southeast Of Valencien' nes where the French retreated.,
 The army and the air force, the communicate said, coopefated n ropulsing Allied attempts to break through near Cambfai, SoutheaS' of Vallenciennes and were report' cd to have inflicted heavy losses The Allies threw many tanks intt inc attack, the communique said but they were turned back.
 The high command said that th' air force continued to blast Ailiet rear positions and communication and troop columns in Flanders ahe Artois.
 Some Destruction
 Three transports and one tanker totaling 10000 tons, were said tt have been sunk in the Engiisf Channel. ono destroyer also wa damaged and German airplanes "ef' fectiyely bombed" the ports of Dun kirk and Dover.
 The high command said that Ger man speedboats torpedoed and sank an Allied destroyer of Dunkirk.
 Bad weather reduced air activity on both sides but the Allies lost nin' planes and five German planes were missing the communique said.
 The German high command sait today that German airplanes hat inflicted heavy damage on enem! munitions stores, warships, troop and landing stages near Narvik, Nor way.
 The high commands communiqu' said Allied munitions stores were SC afire, reserve columns dispersed, bat teries bombed and harbor installa tons successfully attacked.
 In the sea of the Norwegian iroi port, the communique said. ai enemy battle cruiser was heavily hi on the bow and 3000-ton trans port was sunk. Another transport 1t was claimed, suffered severe dam age.
 Conquest of England
 Military spokesmen and newspa pers emphasized today that Adol Hitler's prime objective of the wa was the conquest of Great Britain
 Latest reports from the front con tained no enthusiastic claims of ney military successes, merely sayinl that in the face of furious counter attacks by the Allied forces tn German column which pushed t the English Channel was spreadin out and opening new thrust north ward along the French coast to clos "strangling grip" around French British and Belgian troops in west ern Belgium.
 Instead, German reports painte, e picture of despair and near pani in London and Paris because of tn initial success of the hammerin blitzkrieg, which so far in this wa has swallowed Holland, Luxembourg about two-thirds of Belgium. pushe Q huge bulge" into France an created . serious threat that tn war might soon be fought on Britis soil.
 British IsIes Threat
 The immediate threat to the Brit ish Isles was from German bomber bAsed in Holland and Belgium. 3 addition to cutting swath alon the French Belgian border, the Ger .mang claimed that knifelike thrust