The Wilmington morning star., 1944-07-31

SUPREME HEADQUAR-
TIERS ALLIED EXPEDI-
TIONARY FORCE, Monday,
July 31.-P)-American ar
mored troops, ripping the
German western flank loose
from the Normandy coast,
were smashing deeply south
ward today toward Avran-
ches, key to Brittany's side
door, after probably the
greatest single days gains
since the invasion of France
June 6.
While British and Canadian
troops on the center Of the Nor
mandy front launched and hotly
pressed new offensive that gain
ed as much as mile an hour, the
Americans slammed through Bre-
hal, Gavray and Percy for advan-
ces up to seven miles and thrust
rapidly onward possibly to double
the distance made on the flaming
sabbath ,ssss
Exact extent Of thu; swift Arneri-
can surge could not ne disclosed.
but the ar1nored .spearheads fol-
lowed by doughboys, appeared to
be breaking cleaf out OF the com
fines Of she Normandy peninsula
and totallyss outn thanking the Ger
| man defenses aleng thesa1aa sli1r.
erican-British-C front.
The tanks sped past many peck
cts of German resistance which
the infantrymen who followed
were cleaning out methodically.
The bag of prisoners reached e.
900 yesterday, raising the total to
more than 10000 since the Ameri-
can offensive began Tuesday.
! The figure was expected to gain
tremendously when the remaining
Germans were dug out OF two
traps north of Brehal. French viii
layers tossed flowers to the adj
vancing Americans and some join
ed enthusiastically in the roofing
out of by-passed Nazis.
An Allied communique said the
Germans encircled in the Len
gronne and St. Denis LIE Cast
areas lost 30 tanks in vain efforts
to break out of entrapment. and
. that a strong German counterat-
! tack in the Tessy Sur Vine sector,
near the American East flank, al
so failed. These tank losses boost
ed to more than 400 the German
tanks destroyed or knocked out
since Tuesday.
Avranches, a big highway town
at the very base of the Normandy
peninsula, is II miles below the
captured towns listed in the COM
munique, but front line dispatch
es made it evident that these had
been considerably outstripped and
that the American advance was
partaking of the nature of Ger
man rout.
The British also were making
| their fastest advances since D-Day
with confirmed gains of more than
four and one-half miles southwest
of Caumont despite extensive mine
fields, difficult terrain and deter
mined German resistance.
Their offensive extended the
front of the Allied advance to As
miles, the longest since shortly
after the Allied landings, and still
was going strong.
But it was on the American end
of the line that the Allied pushes
iwere turning into an armed ava
lanche that not only was IL
| checked but was actually gaining
momentum in victory prospect
still unmeasured.
Only at the highway junction
town of Tessy Sur Wire were the
Germans, bolstered by transfer Of
the second Panzs division from
the British front, able to muster q
temporary stand. The Allied com.
munique said one Nazi counterat-
tack there was beaten off, Fight
ing was reported in an arc two
thirds of the way around the town.
East of the Wire river the Ameri-
cans pushed beyond Condo Sur
Wire and through Lehamel, six
miles southeast of St. 10, almost
to Torigni Sur Wire.
-V
WAR ON COMMON FOE