The Wilmington morning star., 1944-06-13
AMERICANS TAKE
CERISY FOREST
100000 German Troop,
| Thrown In Battle
By Rommel

SUPREME HEADQU A RI
TIERS ALLIED EXPEDI1
TIONARY FORCE, Tuesday,
June Is. - up - American
tanks and infantry smashed
through the center of ting
German line in Normandy
yesterday, capturing the Gel
risy Forest Is miles inland
from the sea, topping tho
stronghold of Carentan after
a bitter fight, and battling
Nazi forces only IA miles
from the prize port of Cher
bourg.
Headquarters said that Field
Marshal Gen. Erwin Rommel
was using from IA to Is divisions
$50, 900 German troops, against
the Allied forces, but communicate
No. IA declared:
''The fusion Of our beachheadd
is now complete and coastal strip
some go miles long is firmly IN
our hands. Its depth is being in
creased steadily.
A later official statement alsl
said: ''The enemy has been UNI
able to build up his attacking for|
ces as rapidly as anticipated.
Carentan's fall put the Amerf1
cans a third of the way across tho
Cherbourg peninsula at its mar
rowest point.
Berlin radio, in a broadcast
recorded by NBC, said two new
Allied divisions had landed north
east of Cherbourg, presumably in
the 15-mile area between the port
and Pointe de Barfleur at thu
northeast tip of the peninsula
German broadcasts earlier had
predicted Allied ''leap frog" land
|ings close to Cherbourg.
At the end of the first week OF
invasion fighting the Allies have
taken more than 10000 prisoners,
statement said. Gen. Sir Der.
nard L. Montgomery, Allied ground
commander, said some regular
Japanese soldiers were among the
captives and the Axis slain, but
did not explain their presence or
the front.
The seizure Of Cerisy Forest put
American troops near the mid
Normandy communications hub Of
St. Lo, and was the deepest inland
penetration yet scored by the Al
lies.
i Slight advances were made east
of Caen on the British Canadian
sector on the American left flank,
headquarters said, and American
troops in the Cherbourg peninsu
la have made further progress.te
the north and west" in their effort
to seal off an 80O-square-mile are,
including the port of Cherbourg.
Fierce fighting between British
and enemy armored units continue
ed between Tilly-Sur-Seulles and
Caen, east of the Cerisy forest
now occupied by the Americans,
the bulletin said.
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. sup.
RENE Allied invasion commander,
made five-hour inspection tour
OF the American sector yesterday
accompanied by Gen. George G.
Marshall chief of the U. S. Army
staff, Admiral Ernest j. King,
commander in chief of the u. S.
Fleet, and Gen. Henry H. Arnold,
head of the U. S. Air forces.
Besides the American "Big
Four" Prime Minister Churchill
of Britain also visited the Norman-
dy front 100 miles across the Eng
lish channel. With him were Field
Marshal Jan Christian SHUTS,
South African premier, and Field
Marshal Sir Alan Brooke. chief OF
the British imperial staff.
The greatest daylight heavy bonn
Der fleet ever dispatched from
Britain; more than 1,400 Flying
Fortresses and Liberators, sup
ported the invasion during the day
by striking at a broad belt of ID
airfields and six rail bridges in
France.
In the overall situation Rommel's
Axis forces were showing signs
OF weakness, an official statement
said. But the Germans were pour.
ing reinforcements into the west.
ern coastal areas Of the Cherbourg
peninsula and putting up sitter
resistance against the American
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