Evening star., 1944-08-08
Americans 10 Miles From Paris:
Pincer Move Threatens Germans
As Canadians Launch New Drive
Battles Rage Near
Mortoin; Yonks
Retuke own
MAP on Page A-3,)
By the Associated Press.

SUPREME "A l. l. = - HEAD-
QUARTERS, Aug. "a great
Allied pincers clamped German
defenses guarding Paris today.
Canadians blasted 4 miles into
the stoutest Nazi line below
Caen, and American armored
spearheads were reported in LIE
Mans, only 110 miles southwest
of the French capital.
The Canadian American drives
edged forward at both ends of
curving 130-mile front while in the
center other United States forces
had smashed a powerful German
steel counterthrust. with planes
alone knocking out 1853 enemy
tanks.
The Germans rushed in reinforce
ments from Southern France against
the rising Allied threat to Paris.
Headquarters said Allied troops
were little more than 100 miles"
from Paris at one point, but did not
specify the point. A report that the
100-mile mark had been passed was
circulated late today, but proved
erroneous.
Battles still swirled in this mid
die sector where four German ar
mored divisions-mounting the fierc-
est commensurate since June g.
sought to crash through the Allied
corridor joining Normandy and
Brittany. The town of Mortain,
swept up in the assault, was re-
captured by doughboys.
A front dispatch said advanced
units of the American offensive to
the south-hitting eastward from
Mayenne and Laval-had entered
LIE Mans communications network
forming key to Paris.
Defense Line Broken.
The Canadian 1st Army on the
Allied left flank burst forward at
midnight after a bomb -barrage by
1000 Raj heavy bombers, and broke
the first main enemy defense line
south of Caen, advancing up to
miles. Strongpoint villages were
SelZeQ Dy Lne QOZen.
The push was pointed in the di-
rection of the road hub city of Fa-
laise, 20 miles southeast of Caen.
The Canadian 1st Army. which
also includes some British units,
swept through the blasted strong
points of May-sur- -Orne and st.
Martin-de Fontenay east of the
Orne River, which the Germans
have defended frantically for weeks.
A furious battle was reported rag
ing around bitterly contested lilly
la Champagne, miles below Caen.
The town long since has been de-
molished, but remains valuable
artillery position
Gathemo, between Mortain and
Wire to the north. was among towns
taken by the Allies.
Peninsula Cleanup Continues.
The American cleanup of the
Breton Peninsula continued. 1t.
Gen. Omar N. Bradley's tank-infan-
try teams were within miles of
the big southern naval and subma-
rine base of Lorient. There was no
further information about report
ed offer of the German garrison
there to surrender.
Other American forces were fight
ing within 4 miles of the second
French port of Brest and its mile
of deep-Water quays. At the week
end, American troops had been in
side the city Of 10000.
The northern St. Malo Cape was
cut. Remnants of the German gar
rison were making final fight be-
hind medieval Notifications and
modern minefields.
The German radio acknoWl-
edged that the Yanks had broken
into st. Malo at one point
Smoke from large fires rose from
st. Malo and Lorient, indicating the
Germans were destroying supplies
and preparing to pull out GUM
CAMP and St. Brieuc, between st.
Malo and Brest, were added to the
long list of liberated Brittany towns
Strategic Picture Shifts.
The strategic picture around Nor
tain had shifted until now the
results of counterblow were con-
sidered less of menace to the
Allies than to the Germans who
finally had decided to throw their
armor into a decisive encounter.
The objective of the German blow
was to split the Allied armies by
cutting the Normandy Brittany
coastal corridor.
(The German high commands
broadcast communique said the
German counterbloW was max
ing good progress. 1t reported
violent fighting against the re-
newed Allied attack south and
southeast of Caen.
CA German midday broadcast
declared the Germans still held
Anglers and Nantes, on the
Loire River, but possibly sig
nificantly omitted mention of LIE
Mans. The Nazi high command
said 1.-The enemy increased pres
sure in the area east of Laval')
The American advance elements
at LIE Mans were 40 miles farther
into interior France than the area
where the Germans launched their
counterattack.
Anniversary Of Blacklist Day"
The menacing giant pincer thrusts
toward Paris, the keystone of the
Nazis' shaky western conquests, was
being carried out on the twenty
sixth anniversary of the Germans
BLACKLIST day" of the World War.
In further grim underscoring of
this anniversary came mounting re-
ports of dissension in the German
ranks and new threats from the up-