Evening star., 1944-08-31
Bridgeheod Won
Across Somme in
60-MiIe Advance
BY the Associated Press.

SUPREME ALLIED HEAD
QUARTERS, Aug. 31.-British
tanks captured Amiens and
smashed across the Somme River
today in a lightning 60-mile
drive in 48 hours which found
the Germans in full flight back
to the Reich before four onrush-
ing Allied armies.
The British raced with American
columns which overran Laon and
stabbed on north along the last 80
miles to Belgium with such be-
wildering speed that they over
whelmed three trainloads of Ger
man soldiers trying to escape.
The speed of the advance, vir-
tually uncontested along a 150-
mile arc at the Somme and ap-
preaching the Meuse River. indi-
Gated the Germans had given up
the last pretense of q rearguard
stand and we're in open flight
through Belgium back to the i'm
periled homeland.
The Somme itself had been con-
sidered natural barrier along
which the enemy might try to FASH
ion some sort of a stand, but the
capture of the city of Amiens, which
straddles the river, blasted this pos
sibility.
Days Ahead Of Schedule.
Gen. Eisenhower declared that
now the Allied campaign to lib
crate Northern France was at least
five days ahead of schedule, and 1t
appeared that the Germans were
not trying to sidetrack it.
With the Canadians mopping up
the big river port of Rouen, Is miles
inland from Dieppe, and the British
Is miles inland from Abbeville at
Amiens, half the German robot
bomb coast and any forces garri-
soning it seemed doomed
There was no rest anywhere for
the disorganized Germans, and Al
lied drives mushroomed over battle
fields of the World War, covering
in an hour territory that it once
took days and weeks to conquer.
One force of Americans. heading
east for the German frontier, seized
st. Di2ier. l8 miles southeast of
fallen Vitry, and pressed on to with
in 40 miles of the old Maginot Line
The Saar border of Germany was
81 miles ahead OF tins force.
Sedan As Miles Away.
Forty-f1ve miles ahead of the
American drive was the gateway
city of Sedan. where the Germans
won the battle of France in 1910
by skirting the Maginot line. Ver-
dun, 40 miles north of St. Dizier.
along with Metz and Nancy were
strongpoints of the French defense
line
There have been reports the Ger
mans were able to reverse guns to
point west, but many observers
doubt that any real reversal has
been attempted This would take
years, and the Germans have had
few scant weeks since it dawned
on them that Allied armies were
loose and headed for their own
borders.
Equally. there is no indication
that Gen. Eisenhower intends a
head-on attack through the Maginot
and Siegfried lines.
Spearheads are aimed instead at
the Ardennes Forest, skirting the
north end of the Maginot and lead
ing into Germany where the Ger
man chain of forts probably is
thihnest.
Bridgehead in Strength.
The British bridgehead across the
Somme-last natural barrier on this
front before Belgium-was estab-
lished in strength.
The British were halfway from the
shattered Seine Line to Belgium and
at Amiens they were where the
black day" defeat of the German
Army in 1918 brought Ludendorff to
ask for peace
The Germans were pulling out
along whole l50-mile arc in a top
speed withdrawal which suggested
final abandonment of Northern
France, the buzzbomb coast and all
for the defense of the menaced
homeland.
The Canadians not only smashed
into Rouen, but drove 9 miles north
to within % miles of Dieppe, where
some of them tested the Allied pat
tern for invasion two years ago
Farther down the Seine the Bel
gians won new bridgehead at
Quillebeuf, l8 miles inland from
LIE Havre.
At Amiens the British were 81
miles from Belgium aud SO miles
east of Dieppe.