STRONG RESISTANCE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 158, 5 June 1940, Page 7

STRONG RESISTANCE.

FRENCH AT DUNKIRK. PREPARATIONS ON SOMME. LONDON, June 4. An unofficial military correspondent says large French forces are still vigorously resisting the enemy attacks in the Dunkirk area and are continually preparing local counter-offensives. Thus at least 15 German divisions are still kept occupied at a time when every second gained is valuable to General Weygand in his preparations on the Somme. The French positions stretching 200 miles from the sea to the Maginot Line are strong in natural river obstacles, but there is a twelve-mile gap between the Somme and the Oise. The 18-mile gap between Abbeville and Amiens must also be considered, though the ground here 8 is unsuitable for tanks. It may not be necessary, however, for General Weygand to wait for an attack. A Paris day communique says: “The embarkation in the Dunkirk region continued all night long, thanks to the resistance of our troops _ and in spite of the ceaseless difficulties from enemy pressure. There is nothing to report on the rest of the front.” ENEMY PRESSURE. \ The epic of the evacuation from Dunkirk, the success of which continues to be so much greater than was hoped for, is being hailed throughout Britain by all organisations and leaders, including this morning, the House of Commons. The withdrawal from the port continues in the face of terrific enemy pressure. It is not quite complete and, according to this morning’s French communique, the withdrawal was proceeding in spite of heavy German attacks and unceasing pressure. More French troops are arriving in England. One officer stated that there had been heavy fighting right up to the time they had left. “We were heavily shelled as we embarked,’”' he said. “At one time the German long-range guns dropped their shells into the sea. Then they shortened the range and dropped them behind us.” Parts of Dunkirk are again blazing. The town is little more than a shambles. Some reports state that, apart from the bombardment, the German land attack has been held up and the Germans for tlie moment appear to have given up the idea of trying to force the defences and the flooded area round the port. The Germans themselves now admit that their land attack is hanging fire. Instead, they are trying to hinder the embarkation of the Allied troops both by long-range artillery lxrnibardment and by incessant air attacks. GERMAN TRIBUTE. The German radio again pays a tribute to the British Expeditionary Force. “AVe must , admit that the members of the B.E.F. in Northern . France were magnificent,” it states. “Each soldier was of marvellous physique and full of fighting spirit.” It adds that the Germans had to storm each house in Hazebrouck separately. The Daily Mail publishes a photograph of General Giraud arriving at a German airport after his capture in the fighting on the Aisne ten days ago. The missing British Ambassador to Belgium (Sir Lancelot Oliphant) ivas last seen standing in a car on the road to Ostend shouting, “Long live England I” as a German ’plane crashed in flames after an encounter with British fighters (states a Paris message). He was accompanied, by Mrs A. D. Francis, wife of the British Consul in Brussels.