Evening star., 1944-06-18

| nOunCeQ tOQay.
Obvio usly II
good spirits, tn
Gen. Bradley. tall, weather
beaten MiSsourian who command
American forces in France, appeare,
for the first time before a group o
beachhead correspondents and CAV
them a report which confirmed hi
preinvasion confidence that tn,
campaign would be carried out with
out the blood bath predicted by tn,
enemy.
Gen. Bradley said casualties OF
the central beachhead, where tn.
1st Division and elements of tn,
29th had landed, were higher thar
was anticipated, but that on tn,
other hand casualties on the PENN.
sula beachhead were lower.
(The American casualties in
action to date were expected to
exceed those of the British or
Canadians, not yet announced, ,
. a dispatch from London said, be-
cause the American 1st and 29th
Divisions encountered heaviest
fighting when they ran into q
German division holding man
euvers on the difficult beach.
In "a hours of fighting they
advanced only 100 yards in some
places, while on the other hand
both British and Canadians made
original landings comparatively
easily, encountering their heavier
fighting later.
(American naval casualties in
the invasion already have been
announced as very light" and it
was stated that no American
merchant seamen were lost in
the operation.)
Hard Fight Anticipated.
While the beachhead was secure
however. bitter fight was in pros
pect for Cherbourg, Gen. Bradley
said. Discussing the situation or
the Cherbourg Peninsula, where the
82d Airborne Division yesterday
captured st. Sauveur-Le Vicomte
and threatened the enemy's tina
escape corridor, he said the Ger.
mans might battle for the port a,
long as possible, even after isolation
of the peninsula.
He added that Cherbourg has
strong al-around defenses pre-
pared, with big guns aiming sea.
ward and strong antiaircraft bat.
teries. Enemy strength on the PEN
insula, he said, may run well into
five figures. and should the escape
route be closed, the Germans might
attempt evacuation by small boats
in darkness to Channel islands and
then to Brittany.
The American commander esti-
mated the number of German di-
visions in France at more than So
with 16 divisions or elements thrown
against the entire Normandy
bridgehead areas. - III.
S,5O0 Prisoners Evacuated.
Gen. Bradley said the enemy
migimt be unable to move all his di-
visions in France against the beach
head, because defenses must bs
manned in other parts of the coun'
try and garrisons must maintain
control of artWbulent civilian popu'
lation.
American troops since landing
Gen. Bradley said. have captured o
evacuated from the beaches $50
prisoners.
The general spoke in glowing
terms of the courage of the Ameri
can doughboy in establishing tn
beachhead. His first words as tn
correspondents gathered in his ten
were in praise of the infantrymen
the parachute troops and thei
leaders.
"Only by the CUTS, valor and ex
treme bravery on the part of tn
men and their leaders involvet
were we able to make the landing
a success" he said, land I canno
say too much for the parachute
troopers who dropped in the rea
and made the job easier for th'
beach troops. They did a marvelou
job"
Two Critical Periods Admitted.
Since D-day, Gen. Bradley said
there were two critical periods wher
the Germans might have createt
serious situations by attacks in force
both periods now past. The first wa
during the time when the doughboy
fought their way ashore at the cen
tral beachhead when a reinforced
division was striving to throw then
back into the sea. The second, h,
said, was when American force!
trying to make junction between
beachheads secured north of Caren
tan, soft spot at the time becaus'
it was junction of the American
7th Corps on the peninsula and tn
5th Corps on the central beachhead
Tank-upported doughboys in thi
case beat back a heavy German
attack on Carentan and firmly es
: L.,