Evening star., 1944-08-13
Yank Armor Is Well Below Loire
In Drive Toward South France;
Secrecy C|oaks Le Mans Push
Allies Pound Ahead
Slowly Between
Mortuin and Cuen
BY the Associated Press.

SUPREME ALLIED HEAD
QUARTERS, Sunday, Aug. 49,
The Allies, with official mystery
cloaking the American swing
around the left flank of the half
encircled German 7th Army in
Northwestern France, pounded
forward slowly at five points in
the bulge between Mortain and
Caen yesterday and American
armor pushed toward Southern
France well below the Loire to
the portentous accompaniment
of bomb bursts on the Mediter-
ranean Coast.
One German salient six miles
wide and four miles deep was
rubbed out by coordinated British
Canadian drives below Caen.
The Germans, reversing their pre-
vious withdrawal tactics, hurled all
available reinforcements into the
Normandy bulge which American,
British and Canadian troops were
battering from three sides.
The vast regions of France below
the broad Loire River already had
been penetrated by American ground
forces which stabbed more than 10
miles southwark after liberating
Nantes.
Front Dispatches Heavily Censored.
But lack of news concerning that
front and on activity beyond LIE
Mans on the Paris road-a place
which the Americans had passed
four days previously-reached the
proportions Of complete blackout
Dispatches from the front were
heavily censored, and at the late
night headquarters press conference
there was no word of developments
The speed, extent and objectives
Of the American drives so befudled
the Germans that the Allies rigidly
continued the four-day clamp down
on word of progress, announcing,
"the situation must remain obscure
purely for security reasons"
1t asked public patience because
on secrecy depends the success of
the Allied plan and the lives of
American, British, Canadian and
other Allied soldiers"
On the remainder of the active
front, the British driving four miles
east of Thury- -Harcourt, reached
Fresney-le-Vieux and linked up
with Canadians who pushed down
from Bretteville-Sur-Laize. This
gave the British control of the
Caen- -Thury highway.
Nazi Salient Eliminated.
The Canadians took the road
junction town of Barbery and ad-
vanced mile and a half south
ward to Bois Haibout.
These drives eliminated the Ger
man salient between the Laize and
Orne Rivers. Whether any sizeable
German forces were trapped in the
area was not disclosed
East Of Bretteville, across the
Caen-Falaise road, the Canadians
advanced little over a half-mile in
the st. Sylvan area against fierce
opposition.
Southwest of Thury the British
captured st. Pierre la Vielle and
pressed on southwark within three
miles north of Conde- Noireau,
an anchor point of German po-
sitions west of the Orne.
West of Conde the British were
battling crack German troops in the
town Of Chenedolle six miles east of
Wire. The heavy fighting here as
we'll as that southeast of st. Syl-
vain involved both German SIS
troops and paratroops and the Al
lies found thickly mined each bit of
territory they were able to gain.
Americans Retake Mortain.
South of Wire the Americans re-
captured Mortain. thus adding to
the pressure on the Germans Wire
salient. but progress beyond that
bitterly contested point was slowed
by stubborn resistance.
Coming up from the south, 80
miles below the British positions,
the Americans were meeting sitter
resistance east of Mortain and
Sourdeval, field dispatches said.
Only the supreme command and
the participants knew whether the
American drive was aimed primar-
lily for Paris or to close the trap on
the German 7th Army, estimated at
about 100000 men.
q One unconfirmed radio report
(See FRANCE, Page A-3.)