VICTORY PARADE IN CHERBOURG

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 233, 29 June 1944, Page 5

VICTORY PARADE IN CHERBOURG

French Civil Control QUICK START MADE ON

REPAIR WORK

(By Telegraph.—Press Assn. —Copyright.) (Received June 28, 7 p.m.) LONDON, June 27.

“It is a pleasure to be able to say to the people of France: -Here is your first large city to be returned to you,’.” stated General Omar Bradley today, reports Reuter’s correspondent with the United States forces in Normandy. General Bradley paid a tribute to the troops who carried out the attack. “Cherbourg today is as quiet and peaceful as a country village,” added the correspondent. “Women are passing along the glass and slate-strewn streets carrying bread. There are a few German dead still lying in the streets, but the bodies have been, covered. The greatest pleasure of the few French civilians who have returned seems to be to enter into the former German headquarters.” The liberated city was formally handed over to French control less than 12 hours after it was occupied by the Alin the city this morning General Collins held a review of his victorious troops, the first victory parade on the western front. Most of the soldiers had not had their boots off since D-day, but they marched past General Collins and his divisional commanders to the strains of the “Star Spangled Banner,” and the “Marseillaise.” The mayor of Cherbourg gave thanks, for France for*the liberation of the city. Schlieben’s Surrender. Describing General von Schlieben’s surrender, the correspondent and the Associated Press of Great Britain says that a goose-stepping German lieutenant carrying a white flag marched out of the general’s tunnel, 30 feet deep, with a message that his commander wished to surrender. Von Schlieben and Admiral Hennecke, the naval commander, a few minutes later filed out of the tunnel, followed by 800 men. Asked why he did not tell the defenders of Cherbourg to lay down their arms when their plight became hopeless, Schlieben replied that he had learnt in Russia the value of resistance by small groups. The Americans broadcast the news of Schlieben’s surrender to isolated pocket* of Germans. One of the toughest points of resistance broke this morning when a German artillery colonel radioed its surrender. He was taken prisoner with 300 men. Approximately 9000 Germans surrendered yesterday. . . With Cherbourg now under Allied control, soldiers of the military railway service are moving into the city to establish new railway communications and re-> pair any damage to the existing installations. Railway lines which furnish supplies and troops to the fighting fronts as the drive through France continues will undergo thorough reconstruction. New flat cars and box cars, rolling refrigerators, and hospital trains, built in England by the railway service, are all ready for shipment to the Continent. •No Time Being Lost. Reports on the extent of damage to the railways in Cherbourg Peninsula have been received in England, and details of reconstruction have already been worked out. No time is being lost in getting the tracks back into working condition. The military railway service is commanded by Brigadier-General Clarence L. Burpea, Florida, who served as a railway expert on the North African and Italian fronts. “With the fall of Cherbourg,' the initial stages of the Allies’ of Hitler’s Europe lias ended in greater success than General Eisenhower’s planners ever hoped for.” says Reuter’s correspondent at the Allied supreme headquarters. “We undoubtedly have made the fullest preparations to put Cherbourg to the maximum use with the least delay. Special devices to counter the undoubted destruction carried out by the Germans are ready to go into action. It should not be long before Cherbourg is in a position to take big ships, with masses of men and material, and the value of which in the next phase of invasion is immeasurable.” “From the naval point of view the possession of Cherbourg pot only means the elimination of a former E-boat nest, but also opens up vast strategic possibilities. including strengthening of the Allied naval grip across the Channel and a new menace to U-boats operating in the Atlantic. There is a good airport just outside Cherbourg which should be of great value to the Allied air forces.” The Press Association’s correspondent at headquarters states: “The difficult days of landing on beaches under awkwgrd weather conditions are ending. The Allies will he able to push supplies through Cherbourg at a rate vastly exceeding .the peacetime capacity of about 12,000 tons a day.”