The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-09-18
churehsoins Dutchmen
Coontlnued from Pass D

tJonNAnueo rom Eake " hnfe d southwestarn Holland and at NllneRan. on the north bank of the Rhine only Ave mlles from the oer- man border.
 United Press War Correspondent Waltor Cronkite, who landed With the first glider train, said tho sky troops, most Of them veterans Of the Norman Invasion, liberated sev- eral towns within an hour after their landing and expected to take thelr first big objective" by night fall
 "oppositlon Is comparatively llght" cronklte reported in q pooled dispatch filed from Holland at 4;40 D. Ia. yesterday. Half an hour Af- ter we had landed the small arms and mortar fire in our sector had ended and only tho distant rumble of battle somewhere to the south - where the Allied armies are ad- vanclng toward us-was audible,
 some of our gliders and some C.<7 tow planes went through anti. aircraft fire to reach their landing places, but our dlve-bombing Mus langS and our vast areial support silenced the enemy guns one by one"
 1000 Crafts
 More than 1000 planes and glitlers made up the invasion fleet, the big gest of its kind ever thrown into action, and the "Softening up" bom- bardfnent that preceded them was on Q comparable scale. B
 For IS hours before tho landing waves of Allied bombers and fight CTS over 1000 strong, pounded the inVasion.Tnarked adea and German Algflelds in Holland and the Reich to smash the enemy'S ground de- lenses and prevent the Luftwafte from interfering.
 It was c split-second operation from start to finish, directed by It. Gen. Lewis II, Hrereton, whose air. borne army had been rnaSSing Se- cretly for the blow ever since It's formation was announced on Aug. ust 10.
 The RAYS heavywelghts started the preliminary bombardment late Saturday night spreading their blockbuSters across carefully picked targets in Holland and Germany, With daylight, the U. g, 8th Air Force took over, sending $50 flying fortresses against dozens of other objectives,
 At the Zero hour smaller forces of Mustang fighter. .bomherS swept down tn the remaining German gun positions in the target area and knocked them out, even while the paratroopers were dropping,
 Limited ActlOn
 Az they struck. Allied heNdquar- ters and the Dutch government in exile broadcast an urgent order to the people of Holland south of the Rhine and Lek rivers to take "lim- tied" action against the Germans, Railway workers were ordered to stage Q walkout to cripple the Na2i communication and troop transport and members of the underground were told to take over, not sabotage, factories, mines and other indus. trial installations, help the Allied troops and maintani order.
 DUuteh patriots north of the Lek and Rhine, however, were warned that their time for action had not arrived and not to attempt c mass uprising.
 one of the first objectives of the air army apparently was to destroy the German communications and swing southwaFd junction With the British and Canadian lst armies striking Up from Belgium. The Sri. tors already were across the ESeaut canal in force and Canadian troops were closing in on the seheldt es- tuary, Berlin said c major otfen- slVe had been launched by the Bri- tish in the Neerpelt area, 10 miles south of EindhoVen.
 NaxI Reserves
 Berlin also said Allied reinforce. ments were landed continually throughout Sunday afternoon and nlsht and asserted that German reserves were being pushed up to cope with the new attack, which threatened their entire position in the Netherlands,
 United Press War Correspondent Robert L. Frey flew over Holland with . group Of American para. troopers, many of whom mapped calmly in their big transport plane while waiting the signal to leap.
 "As we approached the drop gone, flax whipped against our ship sounding like steel cords thrashed against the aluminium body" Frey said. We were the second group and tho going had not been easy for tho first group, aS testified by some burning planes on the ground and some others that crash Handed,