The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1944-06-09


base of the Normandy PENN
sula, and an obscure refer
ence in a German com
munique indicated they may
have captured st. Mere
Eglise, 20 miles below Cher
bourg.
Steady advances by the
Allied invasion armies were
reported officially, and one
Nazi report said an armored
spearhead was approaching
st. 10, 20 miles southwest
Of Bayeux and half way
across the peninsula.
The German high command said
Allied Forces advanced north and
south from the st. Mere Eglise
br1dgehead, an apparent acknowl-
edgment that the town itself had
been won by United States assault
forces known to be fighting In that
sector.
An advance unit Of the United
States Ninth Air Force was revealed
to have arrived in France, and front
dispatches disclosed that Royal Air
Force squadrons already were es-
tablished on the Normandy beaches
to give the land armies short range
support.
Bad weather reduced the massive
scale Of aerial invasion operations
TO flights by isolated task forces
after British night bombs hit i've
big transport centers behind the
German front in Normandy.
A Berlin dispatch to the Stock
holm newspaper Aftonbladet said
German military authorities adj
nitted their forces were retreating
under the pressure Of Allied REIN
forcements and may be forced TO
abandon Cherbourg, one Of the prin-
cipal harbors on the French coast
and raiihead OF q trunk limo O.
Paris.
General Dwight D. Eisenhowefsn
seventh communique Of the invasion
reported that American, British and
Canadian forces continued to ''make
prograss IN all sectors despite fur
Their achievements Of German
armor", but did not disclose the
extent Of the Allied penetration Of
the German defenses.
American tanks and infantry on
the west flank were battling fiercely
In an effort to capture Carentan.
hinge Of the German line, and key
points along the Carentan- Cher
bourg highway, while British EN-
pire forces were reported nearing
the conquest Of Caen. beleaguered
communications hub 40 miles To the
east, front reports disclosed,
Canadian forces alone were
credited with capturing q dozen
Normandy towns in q southwark
drive across the Bayeux-Caen
stretch Of the main Cherbourg-Paris
railway and highway. Landings
continued on both the American and
British-Canadian beachheads and
by-passed enemy strong points were
SSAAS ISiuCSQ SVedully.
The Berlin dispatch to the Stock
holm Aftonbladet said the Germans
feared linking Of the two beach,
headS-the Americans between Car
entan and Cherbourg and the Brit
ish Empire between Bayeux and q
point west Of the Orne Estuary
was imminent.
Such junction, the dispatch
quoted the Germans as saying,
wpuld make the Nazi situation very
Difficult and perhaps force the
abandonment Of Cherbourg.
The German-controlled Scandin-
avian Telegraph Bureau, also In q
Berlin dispatch, reported that tank
spearheads from Gen. Sir Bernard
L. Montgomery's forces were APP
preaching ST. Lo, 20 miles inland
after violent battles six miles south
west Of Bayeux and at the Seullo
river, southeast Of Bayeux.
The Garman communique said
only that tank columns had advan-
ced southwest and siv miles west OF
BayeuX. 1t also acknowledged that
American forces near st. Meere-
Englise, seven miles northwest Of
Carentan on the main road to Cher
bourg, had gained ground In the
face Of stubborn resistance"
Radio Vichy reported new mas
sive landings" by Allied paratfoops
and glider-borne forces near Falaise,
some 20 miles south Of Caen, and
the Nai DNB Agency estimated
that the arrival of additional rein
forcements by both air and sea last