Evening star., 1944-08-22
Whole nazi Sfrafeoy
In Northwest France
Knocked Out by Yank!
~ the Associated Press.

SUPREME ALLIED HEADQUAR-
TERS. Aug. 22.-The whole German
strategy Of defense in Northwestern
France has been upset by the Amer
ican Sd Army's thrust across the
Seine River Is miles northwest of
Paris, which is twisting the Ger
man 18th Army into an OF balance
stand and threatening to back it
against the sea.
This bridgehead established by
1t. Gen. George S. Pattons men at
Nantes also opens a path for an
outhanking drive on the Germans
flying bomb launching sites in the
Pas de Calais, 80 miles to the north.
In setting up the robot bases and
massing coastal fortifications In the
Pas de Calais, the area Of France
closest to England, the Germans
apparently had calculated that the
Allied invasion would come head
on against their positions there.
But the Allies picked the Normandy
coast instead.
FOTCoO 1OWAru sea.
Deepening of the new American
wedge at Nantes would force the
enemy's patched up 18th Army and
any elements Of the battered 7th
Army which get across the Seine
to fight with their backs against
the sea all the way from Dieppe
to Dunkerque, an airline distance
Of almost 100 miles.
The Germans lines of supply or
gateway would be cut one after an
other with every mile of Gen. Pat
toms advance.
Even the now-ousted German
master strategist, Marshal Karl
Rudolf Gerd Won Rundstedt, evi-
IDENTIFY had not counted on that.
And his successor, Marshal Guen-
ther Won Kluge, had neither the
position nor the troop strength to
cope with it.
Potentially the Germans greatest
danger is in the triangle with the
Nantes bridgehead at the apex and
lie Havre and Dieppe, >or perhaps
Abbeville, as the base.
To save German troops In that
increasingly dubious cross Seine
haven Of forces escaping from Nor
mandy, Marshal Won Kluge needs
either to conjure up an army strong
enough to stop Gen. Patton where
he Is or withdraw while his men
still can get out.
A withdrawal would carry the
Germans back to the World War
Somme line for a last attempt to
save the rocket emplacements of the
Pas-de-Calais area.
New Wave of Encirclement.
But the second American cross
Seine spearhead in the area of Fon-
tainebleau, IS miles southeast of
Paris, opens positions for a new
wave OF encirclement which might
crumble Somme line stand as
surely as the Nantes bridgehead
cracked open the Lower Seine de-
fense. This second spearhead now
Is pointed at the Marne battlefields
of the World War.
The battle of France has burst
into the open, and even amid the
white rows of crosses of the battle
grounds where the soldiers In the
last war died in the trenches the
Germans seemingly have little hope
now OF halting the Allied onslaught
on any static line short Of the Ger
man border.
The Germans rocket bombing of
London's twice-tried civilian popu-
lation in the latest flying bomb at
tacks has been interpreted by many
as a final attempt to force Gen.
Dwight D. Eisenhower to risk new
landings where the Germans want
ed the Allies to land.
Even that last hope-if indeed It
played a part in German strategy
now has been invalidated by the
same bold stroke which has left
the 18th Army manning a defense
line nNinfad fha