HEAVY FIGHTING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 May 1940, Page 5

HEAVY FIGHTING

IN AND AROUND BOULOGNE

STATEMENT BY BRITISH PRIME MINISTER.

IMPLICATIONS OF SERIOUS CHARACTER.

(British Official Wireless.)

(Received This Day, 9.53 a.m.) RUGBY, May 23.

In the House of Commons, the Prime Minister, Mr Winston Churchill, who was in France yesterday, told the House that General Weygand was conducting operations involving all the Allies’ armies, with a view to restoring and reconstructing their combined front.

Mr Churchill preceded this information with a brief statement on the military position in the following terms:

“The German armoured forces which made their way through a breach in the French Army have penetrated into the rear of the Allied Army in Belgium and are now attempting to derange their communications. Abbeville is in enemy hands and heavy fighting is proceeding around and in Boulogne. It is too early yet to say what the result of this coastal fighting may be, but it evidently carries with it implications of a serious character.” ENEMY CLAIM PUSH CONTINUED ON ALL FRONTS. (Received This Day, 9 a.m.) BERLIN, May 23. Informed circles have admitted that Allied pressure is increasing in the Valenciennes region, but state that the German push has continued on all fronts. GERMAN AGENTS FIVE HUNDRED ARRESTED BY ALLIES. PARIS, May 23. The Paris radio says that the Belgian and Allied authorities arrested 500 German agents between May 11 and 20.