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Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 May 1940, Page 5

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GERMANS PAV DEARLY FOR GAINS

BATTLEGROUND CARPETED WITH DEAD & WOUNDED. HUGE DESTRUCTION OF TANKS & AIRCRAFT. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.50 a.m.) RUGBY, May 27. In reporting recent developments on the battlefront, British correspondents constantly refer to the magnitude of German losses and the fact that every ounce of the enemy’s strength and resources is being thrown into the • present battle, irrespective of losses suffered. In the Lys section, says one correspondent, the Germans threw artillery, motorised troops, infantry and aircraft into a determined drive to break the Belgian line, but registered only slight local advantages at tremendous loss to themselves. In the vicinity of Valenciennes, the Germans threw everything they had into two attacks on French positions on the Scheldt, but without success. The Nazis sustained enormous losses in the Montmedy sector. The correspondent says: —“The German losses on Saturday were exceptionally heavy. The French, after counter-attacking, found the battleground literally covered with enemy, dead and wounded.”

Referring to the German air losses, the correspondent says the enemy’s losses are now estimated at 100 or 125 daily. Losses of mechanised vehicles, etc., are also reported to be on a large scale. The same correspondent writes that according 'to military circles in Paris, enormous numbers of German tanks and armoured cars have been destroyed, especially during the German advance into Picardy.

ENEMY LOSSES UNDER FIRE OF FRENCH GUNS. AT TIMES A MASSACRE. (Received This Day, 10.40 a.m.) RUGBY, May 27. The very high casualties suffered by the Germans in the past few days’ attacks were mentioned in French official communiques last night and this morning. Unofficial reports reaching London today lend further emphasis to this aspect of the fighting in Northern France and Belgium. The losses inflicted on the enemy are described by a military spokesman in Paris as, at times, assuming the proportions of a massacre. He added that the French are amazed by the German persistence after the slaughter, in which whole German units were wiped out by French guns. ir BRITISH CASUALTIES FIFTH WAR OFFICE LIST. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.30 a.m.) RUGBY, May 27. The War Ofi'ice casualty list No. 5 gives the names of two officers killed, two wounded and two prisoners of war, and five of other ranks killed, three died of wounds, fifteen wounded, 163 missing and 38 died.