COMING INVASION

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 188, 8 May 1944, Page 5

COMING INVASION

Significance Of Allied Aerial Attack ALL FRONTS PREPARING (By Telegraph.—Press Assn. —Copyright.) (Received May 7, 9.15 p.m.) LONDON, May 6. “Invasion is very near. It will come from the west, south and east," said Berlin radio’s military spokesman, Captain Sertorius. He warned the Germans that the Allies were using the lull in Italy to co-ordinate a new offensive with a great invasion from the west. "The Red Army is on the eve of a great-scale offensive which will lead to final victory. Go forward quickly. Let nothing stop you. Give the enemy no respite!" This message was broadcast over Moscow radio today on behalf of the Russian command by Colonel-General Smetanov on the eve of battle orders to all the units of the great new Russian armies which have been massed along the eastern front. He added: We will have to cross the Soviet State frontiers and destroy the wounded Nazi beast in its own lair. Similar calls were issued to the Red Air Force and the Red Fleet. The British Under-Secretary for Air, Captain Balfour, speaking at Broadstairs today said: "We are on the threshold of big events, but if you are waiting for the hour which you think will herald the second front let me say that the second front has already begun. Every battle has its preliminary barrage, and the enormous air bombardment of the last month can be compared to the artillery bombardment which preceded the battles of the Somme and Vimy Ridge. >

“When the land operations start,” he continued, “they* will he part of that main battle which has already been • opened by the British, Dominion, _American and Allied air forces. Surely no one can question that the invasion of Europe has come about, with several thousand airmen invading Berlin the other morning! At the same time, over other parts of Germany there has been during the month of April an invasion from the air bv day engaging manpower to a number approximating 75,060. The aerial army of the R.A.F. -Bomber Command during Anril in addition put some 55,000 men above the keypoints in Germany and the occupied territories, destroying vital communications on which the enemy must depend for his ability to resist our land attacks during the coming weeks or months. , , “When the British Tommy lands on the Continent his foothold will be made more secure, with the path more direct, because of the destruction throughout the length and breadth of occupied Europe carried out by these 138,000 Allied airmen during April. ’ In Naples today the Chief of the Allied Mediterranean Tactical Air Force, MajorGeneral J. Ki Cannon, said the Mediterranean air forces would be put to a great test when the Allied armies soon started moving. “But we cannot expect to break through in a day, he said. We must anticipate a long slogging matcn. Our enemy does not cave in immediately; he does not break till his supplies have been used up. That is why it is important that we shoud keep working constantly against his supply lintti General Cannon said the Allies had not only air superiority, but also air supremacy. and the German air effort was getting smaller and smaller. The Berne correspondent of the New York Times” says: "Competent observers are wondering whether Hitler may not spring a surprise on the invading British and .American armies by not defending the Atlantic or Mediterranean .wall, but concentrating four or five armies in the rear whose mission would be to sweep upon. the invader at the psychological moment. , ~ "Severn! arguments are advanced supporting this view. First, the material impossibility of holding hundreds of miles of fortified lines which at some places are fortified only on paper. Men who escaped

from the Todt organization to Switzerland say that some of the defences are formidable, specially round the harbours, while others consist of nothing stronger than earthworks. “Secondly, the German High Command admits the necessity of shortening the lines on the eastern, front, and this holds good equally in the west. “Thirdly, General Eisenhower obviously has prepared orders for an invasion, foreseeing every contingency almost minute by minute. If the Nazis decide practically not to oppose the invasion the Allies would have to improvize new plans. “Fourthly, in view of the methodical destruction of the Axis railways by Allied bombing it would be difficult for Hitler to bring reserves up to the Atlantic Wall except by lorry, which he can hardly afford because of the dearth of petrol. which is badly needed for the armoured divisions.’’ The correspondent concludes: Tfnesa arguments may turn out wrong, but mil l tary experts are of the opinion that they deserve consideration.”

“The invasion will be announced shortly after It starts, and only from the Allied command in London,” said the chiei of the United States Office of VVar Information, Mr. Elmer Davies, today. He added: “Americans should ignore the Axis inspired reports about an'invasion. There are undoubtedly plenty Of phoney invasion reports from the Axis.” “The enemy, whose attack must hreckoned as imminent, will come up against many great surprises. This particularly is true of those enemy formations which will try to land by parachute and glider far behind the coastal, front. These are extracts from a speech made by Field Marshal Rommel to his commanders at the conclusion of a recen. tour of the Mediterranean coast defences, quoted by the German news added: “The German soldier knows his fighting orders.- He is arrnel with new weapons, and he is ready for the utmost. Everything the German soldier contributes will be. toward the revenge we owe to the British and Americans for their beastly air attacks against our home country.” Swedish reports say that Rommel and von Rundstedt, the Nazi army chiefs in Western Europe, have established heav-ily-fortified headquarters deep underground in Paris, from which they will issue all their orders.