The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-06-19
Fresh Allied Troops
 Pour Into Battle
Continued from Page D

Continued quarters reports indicated they were being blasted out in slow but steady push through the ruins by empire shock troops.
 The entire front east of Carentan, where German smelling picked up noticeably in intensity, showed signs of higher tension. There were clash es of varying weight and bitterness in all sectors, particularly in the region of Caen where there has been more 'infighting" since D-Day than anywhere else.
 Fighting was described officially as heavy along the entire Carentan- Caumont-Tilly -Caen-Troarn front.
 United Press correspondent Henry T. Gorrell reported from Normandy that the United States forces had struck out toward Valognes, 10 miles southeast of Cherbourg, and wor new ground in what maybe the first move against the city after its isolation by week end drive across the peninsula.
 MOpping Up
 The Americans were mopping up German troops by passed at strong adding that for the most part they points in the corridor, Gorrell said, were fighting to the death.
 The battle of Normandy was be- ing fought in rnurky drizzle and frequent gushes of rain which held down aerial support for Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery's armies. Some 800 American heavy bombers, however. hit German airdromes be- hind the lines and the Pas De Calais coast of France.
 Prime Minister Winston Churchill was revealed to have estimated that l 1000, 900 men now were fighting in Normandy.
 The fiercest battle yet of the French campaign loomed around Cherbourg as the Americans pre- pared for an assault aimed squarely at the big port after completing the isolation of the northern end of the peninsula with a drive through to the west coast that trapped ele- ments of two to three enemy di- visions
 Churchill Estimate
 Churchill made the estimate of the total forces engaged in the bat tie of Normandy in a speech last Thursday at the Mexican embassy, but released only today.
 This great struggle. in which the lives of a million men may be en- gagged now on both sides, requires extraordinary precautions" he said He reiterated that the Allies had achieved tactical surprise on D-Day contending that the enemy had no idea when, where or how the Allies planned to land until the invasion armada appeared of the coast.
 Hundreds of Allied planes swarm ed over the Cherbourg Peninsula to- day and hurled rockets, bombs and shells into trapped enemy units faced with the alternatives of death or surrender, smashing all their ef- forts to reform for an attempt to break out of the 650-square- mile pocket around Cherbourg.
 Front reports indicated the enemy has decided to fight to the end de- spite overwhelming odds, and a spokesman at Allied headquarters warned that the Allied conquest of Cherbourg would not be easy. Heavy and elaborate Qualifications guard approaches to the port.
 Nazis Speculate
 The German transocean agency speculated that the Allies may at- tempt a new landing on the north coast of the peninsula in an effort to get around the defenSes south ward. Large Allied shipping forma- tions have been sighted at sea that apparently have no intention of un- loading at the already-secured beachheads, transocean said.
 Apparently disorganized by the hurricane Allied air assault. which spread death and destr on through their ranks, the Germans have not attempted a new break through since their initial attempt ended in failure yesterday.
 Nearly 2000 well-armed enemy troops from the 77th and 709th Ger man infantry divisions plunged headlong into the American line yesterday near St. Jacques De Me- hou, four miles northwest of St. Sauveur-Le Vicomte, and came so close to knocking a gap in the line that the corps commander flashed the order: Stand to the last and hold them!' The Americans held and two hours later the Germans began fal- ling back toward Bricquebec. only to run into other vehicles heading southward. American bomberS,