The Wilmington morning star., 1944-06-08
French City Seized
Continued from Page One)

Continued from Page One)
guns Of the British battleship Mel.
son.
b Heaviest fighting apparently cen.
tered around Caen and Bayeux, the
latter cathedral town, once of
5000 population.
Reports from the front mention
ed many casualties, although there
was no solid evidence OF the actual
number or proportion. Both the u.
S. and British navies reported their
casualties in personnel and ships
were so far very small.
Resistance of the German navy
and air force continued relatively
light. with E-boats driven off in
two attacks and 81 German planes
downed Wednesday by the over
whelming Allied air cover, which
lost % of its own planes. Lightning
fighter-bombers demolished Ger
man headquarters Wednesday
afternoon.
One returning flier caid the Ger
mans had flooded three large low
land areas near the beaches in eff
forts to hold up the Allied advance.
The German land forces put up
increasing resistance that was ex-
pected to become still stronger az
the Nazi command struggled to dis
cer71 and met the Allied strategy.
Allied airborne operations, a fea-
ture of the initial landings, were
resumed Wednesday on a very
large SCALE" the Allied communi-
que stated, while supplies and men
moved constantly to the beaches
despite strong northwest winds,
which moderated somewhat to-
night.
+ Conveys Freed From Attack
Clearing the beaches of the ene-
my freed the supply and reinforce
ment conveys and men from small
arms attack, while naval forces
silenced remaining German coastal
guns which had escaped the first
furious air and sea assault Tues
day.
Headquarters conservatively sta
ted: 1T is not yet known whether
all have been finally reduced" The
U. S. battleship Texas and the Brit
ish cruiser Glasgow were officially
credited in this work with aircraft
spoilers.
Air headquarters announced op-
erations Wednesday were on as big
a scale as Tuesday, which would
mean that by morning the 49,
hour total Of sorties flown would
possibly reach the nearly incredi-
Bile total of $4,000.
Aircraft of all types participated
in guarding the troops and attack
ing enemy positions, particularly
in a .50-mile arc south of Caen,
the high spot coming with bomb
ing raid on Caen road functions
by $50 to 500 American Flying For
treeses and Liberators to block
German reinforcements.
The Berlin RADIO said Field Mar
shall Erwin Rommel had rushed re-
serves of the German 18th and 18th
armies into the mounting struggle.
The DNB German news agency
said an Allied airborne division had
been landed on the Weetern coast
of the Cherbourg peninsula-on the
opposite side of the 30-mile strip
Of land from where the original
sea and airborne landings were
carried out. The landings were said
to have been between Lessay and
Coutance, so and A miles below
Cherbourg.
Another Berlin broadcast said an
Allied landing attempt had been
beaten of at lie Havre Wednes'
day afternoon.
Picked American combat teams
that were pinned down on h {
beaches by fierce German fire fol
the first "a hours of the offensive
broke out and drove inland. IN
confirmed reports said penetra.
tons had been made to a dept
of II miles in some places, but the
fighting was confused and no def
mite lines yet had been established
The German high command ad
1nitted that superior forces hae
established beachheads more thar
40 miles apart, at the rnout, OF the
Crne River and north of Carentar
or the Cherbourg peninsula. A B.
lin news broadcast said the Allie'
held briugehead about 81 mile:
wide and six niles deep at Tx
mouth of the Cine.
Allied Officers were loath to siv'
snecifjc details Of the fighting a;
they believed the Nazis still ve4t
somewhat bawi!aered by the ln',l
tiple landings by sea and air. -~'h'
stiffening eneu y resistance ws'
the natural resi- Of Rommel hav
IND rushed re:r. orcements into Ii
dividusl iocaiues where he hae
been able to size up Allied attacks
Rejecting she enemy's expec:..
tion of Allird landings at lev
points. a German news broadcas
declared that a vast armada O
more than 100 Allied warships aMt
countless smaller vessels had beer
standing off LIE Havre since las
midnight. probably forebodins 4;