The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-07-06

CTS and fighters were sweeping in to support the infantry, and the mud was drying up.
 The battle for La Have still was the big show.
 An almost equally bitter battle was raging at the opposite end of the front around Carpiquet, three miles west of Caen on the invasion road to Paris, 12O miles farther east.
 Canadian troops were believed still in possession of Carpiquet It. self, but German attacks were con- tinuing and spokesman acknowl- edged that some enemy forward ele- ments may have penetrated Allied positions.
 Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower's 6ist communique of the invasion re- ported that the Germans were" e"con- testing every foot of ground" around La Have, German road and railway center barring the west coast ap- breaches to central Normandy and the Brittany peninsula.
 American troops captured the railway station at La Have yester- day morning and at last reports were engaging the garrison in sav- age hand-to-hand fighting in the ruined buildings and dwellings of the market town.
 The main American effort, how ever, appeared to have been thrown into an effort to bypass and iso- late La Have on either side despite the almost equally ferocious defense offered by the Germans guarding the Hanks.
 One column bayonetting, grenad- ing and machine-gunning its way southward between La Have and the west coast captured Les Jar dins, two and half miles south- west of La Have and five miles northwest of Lessay. next American objective.
 A second column seeking to out flank La Have from the opposite side was reported making good progretSs" on the northern slopes of the forested plateau Mt. Castro. three miles due east of the town.
 Altogether, 16 villages and ham, lets were cverrun by thet wo col- umns in the past 24 hours.
 Henry T. G0rell. veteran United Press war correspondent. said the fighting around La Have exceeded in violence that leading to the conquest of Cherbourg. The Ger mans were using every ruse in their military dictionary to maket he ad- vance as costly as possible, he said
 A trick that may have been bor- rowed from the Japanese in the Pacific war was tried in one sector, he said. A number of Germans came forward with their arms raised, as though in surrender, but suddenly fell flat and hidden machine-gun" ners moved down the Americans who sought to approach them.
 German suicide squads armed with machine guns and snipers posted in trees and clumps of bushes also were taking a toll oi American lives. German mortars laid down a heavy barrage on bot tleneck points between the flooded terrain.
 Once past La Haye and the Mt. Castro Plateau, where inundations and hills prevent the proper use oi tanks. the Americans can better eIn- ploy their special equipment and presumably step up their rate oi progress.
 At the opposite end of the 25-mile irregular American front, another column advanced four and three quarters miles down the Carentan- Periers road to point southeast oi LaHaye, keeping clear of the flooded areas east of Lessay.
 The battle around Carpiquet al the eastern end of the front con- tinued to sway back and forth with. out decisive change. 4 dispatch from Ronald Clark, United Presi War Correspondent on the British front. said 800 to 600 Germany in- fantrymen and 70 tanks were hold ing the Carpiquet airdrone and pre- venting any southward advance by the Canadians from Carpiquet it. self.
 4 number of German tanks car- ried out probing attacks yesterday but ali were repulsed and 10 enemy panzers were knocked out.
 ~Ihe two forces are still gioWeTing