STERN FIGHTING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 May 1940, Page 5

STERN FIGHTING

BATTLE JOINED AT ALL POINTS BRITISH FRONT HELD EVERYWHERE. TRENCH ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF AMIENS. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. LONDON, May 23. The thirteenth day of the great German offensive finds the Allied armies fighting back sternly, having joined in battle at all points. A strong current of restrained optimism swept through Britain and France when the recapture of Arras and later Abbeville was announced, but the peoples of both countries have taken a cue from their leaders and stand ready for more sombre developments.

It is authoritatively learned that the British Expeditionary Force’s front is being held everywhere, and its casualties are not heavy. The British counter-attacked in France between Arras and Douai and the Belgians successfully counter-attacked against the Germans who crossed the Rivei Scheldt in two places. A French battle-line, which is revealed to be along the Rivers Somme and Aisne, bars the way to Paris, and a French force driving toward Amiens has reached the outskirts of the city. The Allies maintained a counter-attack on Cambrai, and important fighting is also reported between Cambrai and Valenciennes.

Behind the furthermost limit reached by the German light tank units the British, French and Belgian armies are grappling with the Germans in a vast theatre stretching 130 miles from northern Belgium to the Somme and about 150 miles from Montmedy to Abbeville, embracing Amiens. Fierce battles raged all yesterday round the Scheldt, Somme and Scarpe rivers, and the Allied situation slightly improved when Arras was' recaptured after 24 hours’ continuous fighting between mechanised units. Northward of Arras to northern Belgium there is more desperate fighting, and the heaviest German tanks and strongest British motorised forces are swaying back and forth in furious conflict. 1 STORM ‘IN BATTLE.

Southward of Arras to the Somme there is a huge melee. The Allies are trying to break the German advance in this sector, from which light German. forces earlier broke through to Abbeville. . Eastward along the Somme and Aisne to south-west of Sedan the German attack is less violent and the Allies are firmly holding their positions. The Germans appear to have abandoned their efforts to pierce the Maginot Line proper with heavy artillery and infantry rushes. Meanwhile the Germans are flogging on their tired infantry divisions in an effort to reach Abbeville before the Allied jaws close. German light units operating in the Amiens-Abbeville area are working backward and forward along the roads, being unable to occupy the territory raided. WEYGAND SATISFIED. The Allied Commander-in-Chief, General Weygand, after returning to Paris from the front, expressed satisfaction with the high morale and fighting spirit of the troops. The French War Ministry spokesman quotes him as saying: "I am really satisfied with the situation.” The “Daily Telegraph” says it is learned on reliable authority that the morale of the German infantry is not good. A number of the men are disgusted with the ruthlessness with which the wounded are being treated. They say that the tanks prefer to run over wounded men rather than stop and remove them, as their orders are to advance at all costs. I