BLITZKREIG TACTICS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 139, 13 May 1940, Page 7

BLITZKREIG TACTICS

FRUSTRATED BY DUTCH. MASS PARACHUTE ATTACKS. LONDON, May 12. The essential feature of the operations is that the air war and land fights do not appear to be developing on the scale expected. It may be that the German blitzkreig tactics have been frustrated by the swift Dutch action in destroying the Maas ltiver bridges, all of which except one are destroyed. Information reaching London indicates that all the parachutists dropped about The Hague yesterday were dealt with, but more were dropped this morning and there is no definite information as to their fate. Parachutists are also reported io have been dropped in Belgium in the region between Brussels and Louvain. A Rotterdam message states that the city is without drinking water because of a fire, which is one of many blazing fiercely. Fighting continues at certain points in the city. The Dutch fArmy headquarters broadcast that Germans living in The Hague tried to march from a house on the outskirts toward the centre of the city, but the Dutch drove them back to the hou'e. A Dutch tank riddled the house with gunfire, after which the Germans remaining alive were captured. The same action will be taken in all such cases. At least 20 people were killed when four bombs fell in the heart of Amsterdam. British military circles reported that the Belgian town of Arlon and the nearbv South Luxembourg province were in Allied hands. FIRES AT ROTTERDAM. The Germans again launched mass attacks by parachute troops all over Holland this afternoon, concentrating on the western seaports and airports, from which they had. been driven out this morning. They are concentrating on Rotterdam anu, according to the latest report, several parachuters have reached the centre of the city and .occupied the Stock Exchange and otliei buildings. They are also in possession of the. marine barracks. Several fires have broken out in the old city, and heavy fighting is progressing. Parachute troops are also landing to the south and north-east of Rotterdam in an attempt to isolate the seaport ad penetrate the rear defence lines running south of Rotterdam to the North Sea. At least 67 ’planes dropped troops, while more than 100 German bombers and fighters are active. The Amsterdam radio announced that six ’planes dronped parachute forces from 600 feet above Rotterdam. Three others disgorged soldiers near the Rotterdam shipyards and others landed in the suburbs of Rotterdam and also at Waalhaven, Dordrecht. Hoogewaluwe, Schoonhoven, The Hague, and Wassenaar. To-night the Dutch Observation Corps continue to report fresh landings of parachutists. Military sources in Paris declare that German troops have crossed the Maas River and captured Maastricht. Arnhem is 1 also reported to he occupied. A Dutch Army communique said: “British ’planes repeatedly bombed the sole aerodrome in German possession. German troops advanced from the aerodrome to certain points, but, we are taking action to eliminate them.” The Dutch Foreign Minister (Dr. Va.n Kleffens), in ia statement, claimed that the Germans do not now hold a single Dutch aerodrome. “We recaptured Rotterdam aerodrome at 10 a.m. to-dav after bombing by the H.A.F., but this was accomplished only with heavy loss of life,” lie said. “The Dutch probably have also recaptured the bridge at Rotterdam, as the German forces were surrounded. Dordrecht is now in Dutch hands at the cost of 1000 men killed.” TERRIFYING NIGHT. Amsterdam .had a terrifying night, ending in a savage bombing attack directed at the city’s airport and surrounding buildings. A terrific explosion in the south-eastern district proved to have been caused by a shotdown German aeroplane exploding. The Dutch High Command states that instructions found in the possession of German parachute troops indicate that the ~ German High Command vastly under-estimated the resistance to be expected. The Germans reckoned that their parachutists would seize the vital strategic points on the first day of the invasion. Parachutists had-the names 'of German citizens living in the regions where they landed The second raid on Amsterdam appears to have been more severe, though a bomb hit the famous Ani6tel railway station during the first raid, causing several civilian casualties. The correspondent of the British United Press, who was within a few yards of the bombed area, saw four people lying on the pavement when the smoke cleared. All were terribly injured. Watermains and sewers were smashed and windows shattered over a wide area. Twenty persons are reported to have been killed in central Amsterdam in the second raid; A bomb hit houses 300 yards from the pest office. It is reported from The Hague that a German transport aeroplane carrying 19 Dutch-uniformed German soldiers crashed on the roof of a house •after being shot down. See “Tiie War In The Air.’’—Page 9.