The Wilmington morning star., 1944-06-08

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Capt. Ludwig Sertorius, Nazi
military commentator, broadcas
that American airborne troops
dropped between Valognes
Carentan yesterday had been rein.
forced from the air and had Tough.
their way toward the coast and
joined with seaborne forces. Val.
ognes is 10 miles southeast Of
Cherbourg, on the Normandy pen.
insLla.
Both sides dropped airborne
troops into the flaming battlefront
with Allied parachutists and glider
troops pouring down early today
from 50-mile-long sky train. Al.
lied headquarters discloses tina,
more than $1,000 aerial sorties
were flown between June l and
Tuesday night ir preparation fc.
7acd in support c, the vasioa
American troops fighting
through the maze of German de.
lenses were under the command
Of 1t. Gen. Omar Bradley, the
"doughboys' general" who direct.
ed the sue. essful final drive on Ri.
zerte at the climax on the Tunisian
campaign.
Early Wednesday there wa
some pessimism around this com.
mand post. reports having indicat-
ed that Allied forces had accom-.
plished less than had been expect
ed of them and that the weather
was interfering with the flow Of
reinforcements and supplies
across the channel but as the
day wore on and additional advices
came in from the front, this mood
changed to one Of sober satis:ac.
ton"
It was announced that Allied air
borne forces lad carried out "aIl
the tasks allotted" them. Th:;r
part Of the operstjon was cos,sid.
cred so markedly successful. in
fact, that the Allied command was
encouraged in respect to their fu-
ture use.
Small Atrial Losses
Twelve CAT t1oop carriers and
II gliders were reported miss.n.
from Tuesday nights reinforcing
operations teycnd the beachh.ads
Returning flyers today said the en.
tire Cherbourg peninsula was a
mass of white and colored para
chutes where the troops had de.
scended.
In all, the hi,,ed air forces fl ~
well over $4,000 sorties f9om lawn
yesterday until Wednesday W. a
more than 1000 British heavy
bombers pouring a stream Of ex'
plosives upon German reinforce.
ments moving toward tie fighting
front during the night. Allied losses
were reported as Is British heavy
bombers one American heavy
bomber and II Allied fighters.
Nazi aerial resistance began to
incl ease gradually during the day
and So enemy planes were shot
down. The German radio said
thick weather kept the Luftwaffe
out OF the skies in any strength
during the early hours Of the inva
sion. Some Allied air officers look
ed for a battle royal to develop
over France before many days hao
passed. The Allies were maintain
ing constant fighting patrol ovel
the battle zones. with at least 20C
planes overhead at any given mo-
ment.
Flying weather improved consid
erably on the second day OF tn
big rush, with the sunshine break
inr through at times and patches
of blue sky showing as the baro
meter rose during the afternoon
There still was a fairly stroni
northwest wind. but the Channe
was much smoother than yester'
day. when landing craft thumbec
through and over six foot wave:
enroute to the beaches and thou
sands of soldiers suffered horribly
from seasickness.
The British Sixth alrborne olVl
sion was disclosed to have cap
tured several bridges over III {
Orne river in the nine miles be-
tween Caen and the sea, and tt
be holding them strongly agains'
Nazi counter-attacks. Caen also il
connected with the sea by a cana
and has docks which would be O.
great value to the Allied forces
There still was no Allied copfir
nation of a German report thai
Allied airbore troops had LANDED
on the Channel islands OF Jersey
and Guernsey just off the Cher
bourg peninsula.
No additional American nava
losses had been reported since the
announced loss of two destroyer'
and a tank landing craft up e
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