The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-06-07

shadow the current fighting.
There still was no specific word
fixing the extent Of the Allies sue
cesses beyond Prime Minister Win
ston Churchill's word yesterday that
fighting was going on in the town
of Caen, nine and a half miles in
land.
British tanks and infantry were
revealed to have taken a 25-mile
stretch Of the Normandy coast and
pushed inland nearly three and a
half miles to cut coast road vital
to the NaZi movement Of reserves.
Berlin acknowledged that the AL
lies had established one beachhead
possibly the one credited to Brit
ish armor and troops-from Caen,
% miles southwest of LIE Havre, to
Bayeux, % miles to the northwest.
The German Transocean agency
said the Allies had occupied cir
cular area between Valongnes and
Caretan in the eastern side of the
Cherbourg peninsula and opened
corridor to the coast. The forces
holding the pocket were reinforced
by sea and air, Transocean said, but
claimed German forces were coun-
er-attacking from three sides and
narrowing the pocket.
American Thunderbolt pilots re-
turning from flights over the inva-
sion zone said they saw Allied tanks
rolling into the outskirts of one
town, which was in flames.
Diva vNntU,nFly ant
who witnessed the landings said the
Allies had captured 50-mile stretch
of the coast to depth of II or more
miles, while a British broadcast
heard by the same network asserted
that Allied bulldozers were clearing
an Raj airfleld on the occupied
COAST.
Front reports confirmed that
American, British and Canadian as
sault troops and undiscovered and
supported by 1000 planes and 600
warships-had firmly secured their
beachheads along a 60-mile stretch
of the Normandy coast of northern
France between Cherbourg and the
mouth of the Seine and were push
ing inland.
A front dispatch said Canadian
forces who landed between two
British beachheads were ahead Of
schedule" while pilots returning
from flights over the beachheads re-
vealed that the American stars and
stripes were flying from a fiagstan
in one town.
British troops and tanks were re-
vealed to have seized a 25-mile
stretch of the coast and to have
driven inland nearly three and q
half miles to cut a coastal road
over which the enemy has been NOV
ing reinforcementS at several key
points.
The first real battles of the inva-
sion apparently were raging in the
mine-strewn hills and woods behind
the coast, with the Germans train
ing artillery. mortars and machine
guns on the advancing forces from
camouflaged positions.
An official spokesman disclosed
that early reports of light resistance
to the invasion actually were con-
fined to the period Immediately pre-
ceding the landings. AS soon as the
Allied spearheads of ranges, COM
mandos. shock troops and assault
engineers hit the beaches, however
they met stiff opposition.
Not until midday yesterday were
the beachheads finally clear of the
direct fire of the enemy. he said. He
decried a tendency in many quar-
ter" toward over-optimism.
Nazis Crust Broken
Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay
Allied naval commander -in-chief
told a press conference last night
however, that the Allies had "brok-
en- the crust" of Germany's Wanted
west wall.
I'VE have started off on the right
foot and caught the enemy on the
wrong foot" he said. We've goi
through the defended beach zone
and we have made 1t possible fol
general (Sir Bernard L. Mont
gomery to fight land battle"
| Ramsay said the Allied navieI
| were lin effect" 100 per cent sue.