SOLDIERS SING ON RETURN

Southland Times, Issue 24828, 21 August 1942, Page 5

SOLDIERS SING ON RETURN

COTTAGERS PROVIDE CUPS OF TEA

(Rec. 10.20 p.m.) LONDON, August 19. Allied commandos, their faces begrimed and smeared with the sweat of battle, marched singing through the streets of a southern port tonight after their return from Dieppe aboard powerdriven barges. All were tired, but they were in the highest spirits. Hospital trains arrived for the wounded. The commandos wore balaclavas and helmets. Most of them wore sandshoes. One walked barefoot along the street, carrying his boots in his hands. Several had lost a trouser-leg below the knee. There was little delay as the men were loaded into trucks and motor coaches. Cottagers ran indoors ana appeared with cups of tea, matches and cigarettes. One coach moved on so quickly that one commando had not time to return the cup. The woman owner cheerfully said: “Well, he is worth it.” Most of the commandos carried rifles and all had a deflated rubber lifebelt across the chest. . A man who had made his third commando raid said: “It was the hottest I have been in. When I arrived there I did not think of anything but fighting. When I got back on the boat I was scared. Now I think it was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it.” BOMBING OF ABBEVILLE United States Army headquarters reported that 23 Flying Fortresses dropped bombs on or near the Abbeville target. The bombs were seen to burst on runways and the dispersal area, also fuel storage sites. The weather was good. Twelve or 15 enemy planes were observed near the target, but the Flying Fortresses encountered little fighter opposition. Some flak was experienced. None of the Flying Fortresses was seriously damaged and all returned to the base

Paris radio said the attitude of the French .people during the Dieppe fight was beyond reproach. A German News Agency war _ correspondent, describing the raid, said the Allied forces, after landing on both sides of Dieppe, advanced along the coast to the town. By noon most of the tanks landed had been knocked out on the beaches and the position of the raiders had become grim. The British prepared to retreat six hours after the initial landing. They surrounded the ships with artificial fog. Landingbarges burst into flames under the attack of bombers and fighter-bombers. Air supremacy over the fighting area belonged to the Luftwaffe. It was another Dunkirk. The ’ Allies gained the beaches at 1 p.m. to find the barges burned out and they were obliged to surrender. Two sunken transports were fully laden with troops. The Fighting French participants in the Dieppe raid included naval units, a Spitfire squadron, also a commando unit. Some French commandos fought within a few miles of their own homes. AMERICANS TRAIN WITH COMMANDOS (8.0.W.) RUGBY, August 19. United States headquarters announces that specially selected American task troops chosen from an avalanche of volunteers from various branches of the army have been in training for some time with the British commandos under Vice-Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten. They make up what are known as the American Ranger battalions. American officers under Briga-dier-General Truscott have been associated with Lord Louis Mountbatten’s forces for some time.