Evening star., 1944-06-19
By DON WHITEHEAD,

Associated Press war Correspondent.
WITH AMERICAN TROOPS ON
CHERBoURG PENINSULA, June
1e.-American doughboys smashed
through in a "last-mile" drive and
cut through the Cherbourg neck
early yesterday, and then beat of
the first fanatical German attempt
to break out of the peninsula trap
The American 9th Division solidly
sealed the last enemy escape cor
ridor, Gaping a dramatic and his
toric 3ha-day drive westward to the
sea.
The doughboys cut the peninsula S
west coastline highway Saturday
night and officially reached the sea
at II pm. to climax the swift
thrust. 80. ~
Now the stopper is in the bottle
and The big auestion is how longsit
will take TO clean out stubborn re-
sistance and smash through to the
Port of Cherbourg.
Confusion Envelopes Nazis.
1 visited the closed corridor yes
terday with other correspondents
and got an idea of the confusion
which enveloped the Germans when
the American advance swept for
ward so that the last of the enemy
units were. literally running In
circles trying ito find a way out OF
the trap. $s
But there was no way out except
to overrun the Yankees strangline
line to the sea-and the Germans
already had tried that and failed.
The Americans cut the western
coastline road in two places-at
Barneville and at st. Lo d'Ourville--
and Immediately got set to repulse
the Germans counterattack which
came yesterday.
1t literally was a massacre-the
massacre of st. Jacque de Nehou
That is where the Americans bat
tered the Germans in one OF the
bloodiest encounters Of the invasion
Orders From High Commander.
St. Jacques de Nehou lies direct
ly north of the st. Lo d'Ourville
crossroads, where the doughboys first
sliced across the peninsula road to
cut off the enemy escape route.
There, near st. Jacques, the Ger
mans made their bid to escape, un-
der orders rumored to have been
from their high commander. But
before giving an account of this Bit
ter engagement, there is some back
ground which should be given.
When the 9Th Division burst
through stubborn German defenses
on Friday and swept forward towarc
the sea, units of the division drove
to the high ground east of Barne-
Vile, while another unit pushed or
to a ridge northeast of st. Lo d'Our.
Vile. Then units of the northern
force pushed on into Barneville
while southern troops moved intt
st. Lo d'Ourville, thus cutting th'
coast road In two places.
In the meantime the enemys It'll
Division troops attempted to with.
draw south to La Haye du Puts, bu
the routes of withdrawal already hae
been cut by doughboys moving much
faster than the enemy had antici
pated.
The German 77th Division made {
desperate effort at 6 am. yesterda,
to break through the doughboys
wedge of steel Their infantry, sup
ported by armor. moved southwark
Battle RACES in All Directions.
In the early morning haze battle
of small-arms fire broke out. Ther
the bigger guns engaged in tht
fighting, and for confused, excit'
ing time the battle ragged seemingl.
in all directions.
The battle ragged for about tWt
hours, with the Americans putting
their heaviest mortar-flre concen
tration on the enemy since the origi
nal landings. On top Of this, th'
n ~ {llaru oollal for 90 careroSo