Evening star., 1944-08-06
War Review
Nazi Walls Crumble
on All Fronts
By H0,Card P. Bailey

From the fall Of Avranches at the
base of the Normandy Peninsula on
Monday to the Russian breakthrough
Of the German defense line in Po-
land along the Vistula River, last
week was week of notable success
for the Allied cause.
An infuriated Hitler, who seems
unable longer to do very much about
his external foes, lashed out viciously
against army leaders from field
marshal down to lieutenant colonels,
whom he accuses of a plot to take
Lis life and overthrow the NaN rule
in Germany.
On all sides the signs of Axis dis
lntegration were evident. On both
military and diplomatic fronts the
score was heavily in favor of the
Allies.
American troops which completed
the capture Of the Normandy
Peninsula Monday with the seizure
Of the key city of Avranches hardly
paused to take a breath before
opening slashing attack with tanks
across the base of Brittany, which
by yesterday found the spearhead
almost at st. Nazaire, one of Ger
many's most important U-boat bases.
An armored column pushed all the
way to Brest and, paralleling the
drive toward st. Nazaire, is another
toward Nantes, important rail center
and manufacturing city.
British and Canadian troops, put
ting heavy pressure on the Nazis in
the area just beyond Caen pinned
down large bodies of enemy troops
which Hitler would no doubt prefer
to send down against the rapidly
moving Americans who have
reached Mayenne on the road to
Paris. The British pressure was
so great, in fact, that break
through into the fiat land along the
Seine leading to Paris is also def
nitely possibility.
105-Mile Battle Front.
The seizure of Avranches at the
start OF the week marked an advance
OF 60 miles since D-day and followed
the destruction of six German divi-
sions and the heavy mauling of two
others. 1t heightened the arc from
which future offensives could be
launched to los miles.
German morale was breaking so
badly that one American company
OF 200 men took 1000 prisoners in
q period of 48 hours,
Smashing across the Selune River
Tuesday, American armored forces
broke into Brittany and advanced
or miles in the initial assault.
The British at the same time moved
forward II miles toward Paris south
of Caumont.
Wednesday, British 1t. Gen. Sir
Miles c. Dempsey, in the center of
the long battle front pushed. two or
three miles further in the Caumont
area and 1t. Gen. Bradley's Amer
leans struck out for Rennes about
a third of the way toward St.
Nazaire. Three pockets of Germans
were in danger of isolation as the
various spearpoints divided and
bent toward each other.
Rennes fell on Thursday after a
45-mlle advance by the Americans
in two days in campaign of move
ment much like the striking ad-
vances which have occurred on the
Russian front. The successes at
tanned led 1t. Gen. Montgomery in
command of Allied ground forces
to declare triumphantly that I'VE
are hitting the Hun a good crack" :"
He announced that from D-day
until Thursday, 100000 Germans
had been taken prisoner.
Churchill Is Elated.
Prime Minister Churchill, equally
elated, declared that while he real
lied the danger that he might be
rousing false hopes, he was no
longer bound to deny that victory
might come very soon. He also
expressed the opinion that the
interval between the defeat of Ger
many and that of Japan might be
much shorter than he had origin
ally expected.
His optimism was at variance
with warnings in Washington that
a lag in production of war materials
was menacing the efforts of the
Allied armed forces.
BY Saturday the American drive
across Brittany had progressed to
the point that st. Nazaire was
within striking distance while the
armored column had dashed IS miles
In two days to Brest. Brittany ap-
peared about sealed off. Only be-
tween Wire and Caen, line reach
ing almost across the base of Nor
mandy's peninsula were the Nazis
holding at all and even there.
weakened by total casualties since
D-day of 100000, they were giving
some ground.
Compromising the Nazi problem of
setting up new defense line was
heavy air attack on the Pas-de-
Calais area north of the Normandy
landing which itself might become
the location of new and threaten
ing beachhead.
Suwalki Triangle Entered.
The extent of the German COL
lapse on the Russian front has
reached such proportions that for
the first time in the war Allied
troops have arrived on German ter
ritory.
First penetration of German soil,
though its description as German is
open to question, came Sunday
when Red forces penetrated 7 miles
inside the Suwalki triangle which
was added to East Prussia in 1899.
This brought the Reds to a point
only 81 miles from East Prussia it.
self. Another Red Army which had
captured Kaunas, capital of Lithu-
ania, threatened an advance into
East Prussia and German reserves
were rushed hurriedly to stem this
advance.
The push toward Warsaw made
considerable progress at Che start
of the week and by Tuesday under
a heavy umbrella of planes Russian
and Polish troops were penetrating
the suburbs of Praga, close by War
saw.
Great fires and heavy explosions