TERRIFIC ATTACK
Bombers Hammer Enemy Tank Concentrations ODON BRIDGEHEAD HOLDS (By Telegraph!—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Received July 2,11.15 p.m.) LONDON, July 2< Dropping more than 1000 tons of bombs in a 12-miiiute attack yesterday on a large concentration of German armoured units near Villers Bocage, and at the same time plastering a communications centre at which five roads meet, Lancasters and Halifaxes gained a special commendation from General Montgomery. ' General Montgomery sent the following message to Air Chief Marshal Harris, Chief of the Bomber Command; "My grateful thanks to Bomber Command, and to you personally, for the contribution to the tactical battle in Normandy last night. It wasa most inspiring sight for Allied soldiers in France to see the might .of Bomber Command arrive to join them in the battle. Your action will not be forgotten by us, or by the enemy. Please thank all your pilots from me.’’ It has been stated by a correspondent at General Montgomery s headquarters that it is thought it will take the enemy at least two days to sort out the confusion caused, and those two days may prove a vital factor in the big clash which is expected in the next few days or hours.
Today’s communique from supreme Allied headquarters says that southwest of Cacti, the enemy made repeated attacks against the western flank of our bridgehead, across the Odon River, but - our positions were maintained intact. The enemy suffered severe losses both to his infantry and his tanks.
These were probably “definite” tank losses, said an officer at headquarters, for they were knocked out inside our lines and cannot bo extricated for repairs.
A correspondent, reporting from Normandy this morning, says the fighting has died down since yesterday evening, except for an attack of about company strength at dawn this morniug. This was repulsed. Many of yesterday’s attacks were much more than mere probes, the correspondent says. They were the real thing, and they failed. Twenty-five tanks were lost by the euemy during the day. H.M.S. Rodney has again been taking a part in tiie battle, hurling shells weighing 24601 b. at an extreme range of 17 to IS miles.. Bad Flying Weather. Bad weather has restricted flying operations, but aircraft from the Normandy airfields flew more than 2000. sorties from dawn to dawn in support of the land operations.. Fighter-bombers; dived down' beneath low-lying cloud to strafe and bomb euemy transport -columns packing the roads behind the battle area. Our aircraft are now neutralizing enemy airfields in the area, just as they destroyed the bridges. The enemy aircraft are forced to operate from satellite airstrips outside the battle area. Yesterday nine enemy aircraft were destroyed for a loss of three of ours. Further ground has been gained in local attacks near St. Jean Haye, to the west of the Tilly-Caen sector, but fighting in the local operations round -St. Lo has died down. There is no confirmation at S.H.A.E.I. of a Paris radio report that Canadian and British forces landed east of the Orne estuary and captured Cabotirg. The German news agency' announced that ColonehGeneral Dollman, Comman-der-in-Chief of a German army group fighting on.the invasion front, was killed in action. * It is revealed that with the Second Army is one of tiie most famous divisions in the British Army, the 51st Highland Division. It has also been disclosed that Major-General Sir Francis W, de Guingand is Chief of Staff of the Twenty-first Army Group. Piecemeal Counter-Attacks. It. is learned at Supreme Allied Headquarters that the counter-attacks, though vicious, are of a piecemeal nature. These suit the Allies tactically, being regarded as an attrition of German armour. One big, well-organized and well-supported counter-attack on the Evrecy salient on Thursday night was held ■by a British division previously untried in battle. It stood up to the severe ordeal splendidly and inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy. , , The German news agency says that General Montgomery is. using four tank and four infantry divisions on the Tilly sector. Allied land and naval guns are 'bombarding German . positions at Caen with unprecedented violence. Allied battleships shelled the town and harbour of Le Havre. German forces cornered in the Cap de la Hague surrendered last night, states Reuter's correspondent with the American troops. American patrols are at present seeking out the stragglers, in wooded country. Two thousand prisoners and several large guns were captured. For the first time admitting that Cherbourg harbour is in Allied hands, the German news .agency said that the German garrisons at the strongpoints in the harbour were unable to attack Allied minesweepers and other small vessels when they entered because they completely lacked ammunition.
BRITISH CONFIDENT
General Dempsey’s Press Interview LONDON, July I. General Dempsey, giving his first Press conference on the Tilly-Caen front, said: “We are ready for the enemy and prepared to meet him. We will be disposed and properly balanced. The, enemy's communications are in a very dicky state. He may light here, or fall back to where his communications are better. We have taken prisoners in the past 24 hours from the fresh forces which the, enemy rushed up to stop us. It is established that German troops from the Russian front are fighting on the Normandy front.” Asked to explain the sudden slowing down in the Allied drive on the Orne. General Dempsey said: “Phase one is complete. We are now ready for phase fwo, but I am uot going to disclose my intention except to say that one always plans sufficiently ahead for all eventualities. We expected the Germans to react very vigorously to our advance, and they did. We were prepared for it. In the situation as it remains now. I am completely confident.” Ho added that the British forces are now facing the biggest .and most concentrated force of German armour since the outbreak of the war.
In this connexion, the British Official ■Wireless says that in the tank battles now raging round Caen the enemy has thrown in against the British Hie best armour he can muster. It. is now reported that seven German armoured divisions have been thrown into.the battle. The Gorman news agency reports that they are under the command of Colonel-General Geyer von Sehweiipcnberg. former military attache in London, with long experience of lending Panzer divisions against the Russians. The German units so far identified are the Second Panzer Division, one of the best at the enemy’s command, the Twenty-lirst Panzer Division, also reputed one of the best, the Lehr Panzer Division, the Twefth Panzer Division, the Hitler Jugend. one of Germany’s elite divisions, which is believed to be led by Captain of S.S. Randolph von Ribbentrop, sou of Germany’s Foreign Minister, and the Seventeenth Panzer Division, also, known as the Gotz von Berlichwingen Division, which is also an elite division. In addition to these armoured formations. there have been reports that the First and Second Panzer Divisions, known as Leidstnndartcte Adolf Hitler and Das Reich, have been removed from the Low Countries and Bordeaux respectively toward Hie Normandy front. Rommel In Coniand.
“The British staff believe Rommel has arrived on Hie Isittlelield. says the "Daily Express" cori'cspondcut at 21st Army headquarters. “they state that tjie behaviour of the Germans in the, past two days leads to this belief. Their reaction. to the British thrust across the
River Odon has 'been impetuous and headstrong—in the true. Rommel style. Our intelligence now reports that all the German panzer divisions in Normandy have been drawn into battle.” If Rommel has in fact taken command it may he expected; that enemy tanks will be used in large numbers, and heavier attacks are predicted, says the British Official Wireless.. The correspondent of the Associate*! Press of Great Britain at. Cherbourg says that an American staff officer disclosed that the Allies since D-Day have killed or captured the equivalent of six full German divisions. Tiie Americans alone have captured; over 42,500 and. have buried 4212 enemy dead. Fresh Enemy Troops Used. A correspondent at Supreme Headquarters says it is clear that on Thursday night, in the-biggest counter-attack yet launched against our wedge south-west of Caen, the Germans threw in troops fresh to the Normandy battle. The attack came to nothing. In fact, it ended with our troops in better positions than at the S He says that the throwing in of fresh troops is good news, because it means that none of the enemy’s furious attempts at patching have stopped the leak. The enemy has even been using the infantry of some of his armoured divisions, and this also suits ns well, for while this infantry later rests and reorganizes, the armour it belongs to can hardly hold, any ground it may have captured. Enemy Reports. • Berlin radio’s war reporter stated tonight that the British were beginning Ji fierce assault along one of the roads leading to Caen. “Our S.S. Division, facing grim enemy attacks, has already s tjo<i up to a withering artillery barrage. Two tank divisions are assaulting our positions from the south on one small sector while 30 artillery batteries hammer our forces. . ~ . “The enemy is also preparing another attack from the east and is at present laying down a huge artillery barrage at Pemy. east of the Orne River. He is still landing substantial reinforcements and is thrusting savagely south-westward. The Germans, wherever they are ordered to counter-attack, are meeting with annihilating enemy fire from tanks, machineguns and artillery. The enemy Ims rushed strong forces from the Cherbourg area toward Saint Lo, where he is ready to launch a grand assault.” A German spokesman told neutral correspondents in Berlin: “Me are engaged in reorganizing the whole distribution of our forces in the light of the fury of the great attacks that are being directed against our armies from three directions. We must be content to fight vigorous hold-ing-down actions till reorganization is accomplished.”
GERMANS’ PLIGHT
Communications’ Havoc A’ Big Strain
LONDON, July 2. “Of every three battalions dispatched from Germany for the Normandy battlefront. only about two, on the average, arrive,” states Frank Gillard, a correspondent at -Supreme Allied Headquarters. “This is due to the excellent work being done by the Royal Air Force. . Gillard says that a German High Command order captured directs that ail movement of troops and transport shall be made by night, except where specially authorized. lu the latter case every use must be made of leafy byways. Any other day movement will be at the personal responsibility of the officer in com“One captured German stated that it took his division 14 days to get to Nor- « mandy from the Franco-German frontier, which he had reached from, the eastern front in under a week. Itos is not solely due to the work of the R.A.F., stays Gillard. “The French underground movement, with its sabotage Of con>munication, has played an appreciable part. Unexpected road blocks—trees felled across the highways, or telephone poles sawn off to fall similarly—have done their work. The German said the railways in France could not be used, and the roads were terrible. "AVith the transport columns under frequent air attack, the wastage of vehicles is terrific, and that is why only about two-thirds of the troops dispatched from Germany have yet reached their destinations,” Gillard says. “It is the normal German practice to send their armoured divisions by rail to the nearest railhead to the area or operations. Instead, from the French frontier, they have had to travel, Otten by devious routes, the whole of the way oil their tracks. Many of them have had to be put into repair shops immediatelv on arrival in Normally. “The expenditure •of petrol we are forcing on the enemy is terrific. One tank may take as much as three gallons of petrol to cover one mile. How much petrol must it be swallowing up to move one panzer division by devious routes from the French frontier into buttle.
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Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 236, 3 July 1944, Page 5
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1,981TERRIFIC ATTACK Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 236, 3 July 1944, Page 5
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