Evening star., 1944-06-12

TAKEN CdI6IlJdIl, tllc OcIAldIlS
the British threatened Caen
is approximate battle front.
the first correspondent to accom-
pany the invasion forces.
They were members of head
quarters parachute contingent of an
airborne division. Today, while SOL
diers stood guard outside the quad
rangle of q. French farm used as
headquarters, the chief of staff Of
the division lifted the wings from
the field jacket of Paratrooper
Philip Romano of Chicago and
pinned them on the generals battle
jacket.
Prisoners Dazed and Detected.
Meanwhile, other members of the
division staff, including this cor
respondent, sat in a landing craft
for hours in the bay of the Seine, 10
miles of the French coast, while
waiting orders to land on a beach
which had been stormed at $50 am.
on D-day by Regular Army divi-
sion. BY this time the Regulars had
-frogged over the parachutists.
I watched more than 1000 Of
Hitler's best paraded down quiet
French road-dazed and detected
men. On the beaches were other
hundreds awaiting shipment to
England. Dead ferries strew the
fields and roadside of this Cherbourg
peninsula, and parachutists and
glider-borne infantry are rounding
up small groups Of the enemy, push
ing the Nazis back like rabbits as
the invasion forces swell.
Roads inland are jammed with
marching men and rolling equip
ment. 1t is war on an enormous
scale, the greatest military show in
history and one which so far seems
successful.
Parachntists Led.
The parachutists spearheaded 1t
all. Several thousand jumped from
CAT planes soon after midnight
last Monday, five hours before H
hour. They jumped into a hornets
nest of opposition, but the glider
troops who began coming in 14|
hours later really ran into q tough
spot. Primo Ceravaola, q second
generation italian from Toledo,
Ohio, told typical story:
I'VE took a licking back there,
but we gave the ferries q worse
beating. One guy was still airborne
in his glider and saw the ferries
shooting 1ak him from the hnghes.
He knocked out the glider window
and killed two from the air. Flight
Omcer Greasy Of Columbia, Mo-,
was survivor in his glider when
it crash landed. Germans sur
rounded the plane, but hE finally
got out okay."
Ceravaola, like many airborne
troops and those on the beaches,
said many casualties were caused by
the fire of German 88-mm. guns.
They shoot them like hand guns"
he said.
They're a bloodthirsty crew
these airborne men-and they've
done a wonderful job.
Found ferries Ready
Typical was the experience of Maj
Paul Danahy of Buffalo, N. Y.
1--WE landed south Of a river whose
north shore We were supposed to
Defend" he said. "The ferries were
ready for us with everything
88-mms. and mortars. They gave us
unadulterated hell on wheels.
I'VE didn't have any heavy stuff,
and we cleared out of there. Those
ferries are a rough bunch, but we
can handle them--and howl"
Three colonels were wounded in
the glider operations.
A half-mile away bursts of ma
chine-gun fire pnctuate the stiffness
Of the French countryside.
Today the quadrangle is little
safer and French civilians, little
dazed by the suddenness of the in
vasion of their peaceful countryside,
can walk about in comparative
safety. Day before yesterday an Of
ficer stepped out back door and his
helmet was knocked off by sniper
4Aha0SAA Ala VAC e2CCo 4UO away.
Snipers Don't Last Long.
Captured weapons pour in, all Of
good quality and manufacture. Jerry
may hide in the trees again and
snipe at the windows of Norman
farmhouses as he did earlier. He is
pretty good at infiltration, but these
gentry don't last long. 1t is a little
safer to walk down the road 300
yards to the hospital than 1t was
earlier.
So far Jerry has been dirty fight
er, but the paradnutists are equal
to all his tricks. They have some
of their own. One of the prize yarns
Is about soldier, James l.. Evans
of near Atlanta, Ga, who shot a
Jerry with l0-year-old .22-caliber
pistol, firing over his shoulder with
out sighting, and then got another
one with a grenade.
Evans was crouched behind q
hedge while five ferries walked or
| the other side He knew a visible