STRATEGY SUCCEEDS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 161, 7 June 1940, Page 7

STRATEGY SUCCEEDS

BLOTTO TANKS. WEYGAND| INSPIRATION. Received Jtie 7, 8.55 a.m. \ PARIS, June 6. General Weygatd has adopted new methods to oombfc the German tank warfare. Tanks |idvancing through openings encounter'd successive “support points” like hid fortifications. The first points w|e armed with anti-tank-guns on the hanks of the numerous canals andktreams. Behind, were gun nests at cWroads and high grounds, while bidder artillery further behind stopped any \anks succeeding in getting this far. \ There were a, numfir of destroyed German tanks behind t.e French front last night which had suheeded in penetrating the defences bui were not followed °by supporting u|ts. 'LINE INTACT. It is officially stated fiat the German tanks have advance! five or six miles at several points %hout penetrating the Weygand Lin. Twentyfive German tanks haw been destroyed at Chaulnes, whch is the deepest advance. », The French spokcsmainsaid the French anti-tank guns wefc proving highly destructive. Tim were caught in. a labjriiiui of lirG and had no choice but or push forward. Then Frenh ma-chine-gunners halted the t,erman supporting elements, namelyynotor-j cyclists mechanised mi a pry. j Those t*nks which became serrated from their “supports and continu'd \to advance even iar into the French ie<n were attacked by specially-equijped corps and, lacking support, w er| destroyed. I • The enemy at dawn to-day on the Lower Somme pushed forward a heat number of tanks, suggesting that f tlie principal effort to-day is being mule in this sector. J The French advance posts withdaw, hut the movement was purely tactful. The Germans on the other wingdto the - right of Ailette and Chemin Us JDames, launched an artillery bombailment from guns of all calibres in tie neighbourhood of Rethel. | SMOKE SCREEN RAISED. | The spokesman added that the Germans were employing smoke shel , on a vast scale, and the battlefield' was covered with a thick, acrid smoke, hampering air reconnaissance and , screening the German shock battle in the air was as violent as on land. The spokesman referred to a heavy German raid in the Saar region, which the French repulsed by counter-attacks Germans who had surrounded a IrencU outpost were forced to retire.: “BATTLE JUST STARTING.” Reports reaching London from Paris indicate that the French authorities, while not dissatisfied with the military position, emphasise that it is yet too* early in the battle to give rise to either optimism or pessimism. The French military spokesman deouentlv a certain degree of penetra tion could be allowed without much danger He emphasised, however, that the battle was only just hegmning and the full German strength was by n means yet engaged.