The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-07-01


of the most vital responsibilities
during these opening weeks of our
war on the continent of Europe
has been the protection of our un-
loading beaches and ports.
For over and through them must
pass, without interruption, and in
great masses, our buildup of men
and material in sufficient masses
to roll the Germans clear back out
of France.
Nothing must be allowed to in
terfere with that unloading. Every
thing we can lay our hands on is
tnrown into the guarding of those
teaches and ports. Allied ground
troops police them from the land
side. Our two navies protect them
from sneak attacks by sea. Our
great air supremacy makes day.
time air assaults rare and costly.
1t is only at night that the Ger
mans have chance. They do keep
pecking away at us with night
bombers, but their main success in
this so far has been in keeping us
awake and making us dig our fox
holes deeper.
The job of protecting the beach,
es at night has been given over to
the anti-aircraft artillery, or ack-
ack. I read recently that we havs
here on the beachhead the great
est concentration of anti-aircraft
guns ever assembled in an equiva-
lent space. After three solid weeks
Of being kept awake all night long
by the guns, and having to snatch
your little sleep in odd moments
during the daytime, that is not hard
to believe.
Here on the beachhead the fall
ing flax becomes a real menace
enc of the few times I've known
that to happen in this war. Every
night for weeks, pieces of explod-
ed shells have come whizzing to
earth within so yards of my tent.
Once an unexploded ack-ack shell
buried itself half a stones throw
from my tent.
A good portion of our army on
the beachhead now sleeps all night
in foxholes, and some of the troops
have swung over to the Anzio
beachhead custom Of building dug
outs in order to be safe from fall
irg flax.
For a long time I have intended
doing a series about the anti-air-
craft gunners. I'm glad I never
got around to it before, for here
On the Normandy beachhead our
ack-ack seems to have reached its
peak.
Figures are not permissible but
can say that right now we have
many, many ack-ack soldiers on
the beachhead and that by the time
everything has arrived the number
will be much larger.
And that is speaking only of ack-
sck men who do nothing else. In
addition there r e thousands of
gunners attached to divisions and
other units who double in brass
when planes come over and shoot
ct anything that passes low.
| Our ack-ack is commanded by a
general officer, which indicates
how important it is. His hundreds
CT gun batteries even intercept
planes before they near the beach
es. The gun positions are plotted
on a big wall map in his tent.
Just as the battle lines are plotted
by infantry units. A daily score is
kept of the planes shot down-con-
firmed ones and probables. Just
as an example of the effectiveness
of our ack-ack, one four gun bat
terry alone shot down Is planes in
the first two weeks.
Up to the time this ie written
the Germans don't seem to have
made up their minds exactly what
they are trying to do in the air.
They wander around all night long,
usually in singles but sometimes in
numbers. But they don't do a great