The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-08-16
NEW BEACHHEAD
GREATLY WIDENED
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more than $4,000 pilots and air
crews participated in the davis
operations. This was exclusive of
alroorne troops and parachutists
VINO landed in France and whose
jumpers were not disclosed but
were described as great.
one Allied pilot, acting as naval
artillery observer, said he had
flown go miles inland without see
Ing any big concentration of Ger
man troops. I
me Germans apparently already
mad been forced to pull a large
part OF their troops northward to
meet the threat of General Essen
mower, even though they them
selves had been predicting the Me-
dlterranean landings for more than
q week.
fThe German-controlled Paris
radio early Wednesday said there
was heavy fighting between Cannes
and Nice and between st. Raphael
and Cap Camarat, with General
Wilson personally directing the lat
ter operation. An NBC reporter,
however, said American Liberty
ships already were being unloaded
IN Cannes Harbor)
Allied headquarters said only
that the landings had been made
successfully along a considerable
part of the coast between Nice and
Marseille." The German radio re-
ported that the focal point of the
invasion was around st. Raphael,
16 miles by air west of Cannes,
! famous peacetime pleasure re
sort, and told of another landing at
Bormes, Is miles east of Toulon.
American Liberators this morn
ing bombed the road leading from
the beach to Frejus, near the mouth
of the Argens river, two miles from
St. Raphael. Marauder medium
/. bombes struck heavily during the
!. morning at beach and gun install
I1ations in a 30-mile sector from
west of Cannes to east of Toulon,
the great naval base where much
of the scuttled French fleet lies
trusting.
| Other Liberators bombed five
highway bridges over the
great Phone river between Valence
and Avignon. along the natural
pathway towards northern France.
In the last coastal bombings, the
planes used small bombs designed
to destroy whatever German troops
and guns remained.
That it was not impeded was in
dicated by a field dispatch from
Herbert L. Matthews of the New
York Times, representing the COM
bined American press, who wrote
tonight:
"a flabbergasted American army
numbering many thousands is well
into southern France this after
moan and going fast. 1t has beer
: dene virtually without opposition
, and with amazingly small casual
ties.
1.-The ferries were caught com
I pletely by surprise, and what few
there were waiting for us have
g been scattered or captured. Men
= tanks, artillery and materiel of all
! kinds have been pouring into three
: separate beaches since H Hour.
! and by now we have built up such
= strength that it seems almost GER
: tain we have not only come to stay
but to push on. This ought to be
! the decisive blow for France, and
, everybody is astonished that il
went off so easily"
Flying over the coast where less
+ than a fortnight ago he had seen
, intense antiaircraft fire, Kenneth
L. Dixon, Associated Press Cor
respondent, reported he was I'M
able to see the flash of a single
German gun today.
An airforce spokesman said the
:, major pre-invasion tasks Of knock
| ing out railroads from the beach
, head area northWard through the
!. enemy-held northern Italy had
, been accomplished and that the
, landing area was virtually isolat-
ed.
! Along with their hundreds of
tons of small bombs the Allied
! planes dropped A tons of leaflets
urging German troops to present
themselves to allied lines for, sur
render and calling on French citi-
zens to do everything in their
power to help the invaders.
For the present, at least, the
southern front remained under Will
sons supreme command, indepen-
: dent of General Eisenhower's in
the northwest. The designation and
composition of the invading armies
remained military secrets. Its com.
mander also was not identified.
A denial was issued here to Lon
don newspaper reports that the
American 1t. Gen. Jacob L.
Devers, deputy to Wilson, was field
commander of the invading forces.
: Veteran American units formed
the major spearheads of the on
slaught.
Some of them had been through
the fighting in Tunisia, Sicily and
!, Italy. Alongside them were French
,, units.