FRENCH OPINION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 June 1940, Page 5

FRENCH OPINION

POSITION GENERALLY SATISFACTORY IN SPITE OF SOME WITHDRAWALS j — ENEMY THROWING IN HUGE MASSES. UNSPARING USE OF MEN AND MATERIAL. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. LONDON, June 7. French military circles regard the situation on the Somme front as generally satisfactory in spite of the withdrawal in places where the enemy’s losses have compensated for the French loss of ground. The unprecedented masses of armoured vehicles which the Germans hurled against the French defences have dwarfed even the forces used along the River Meuse where the invaders broke through on May 15. The French communique indicates that the troops fighting the rearguard action against the German shock units are meeting with success. The points at which the Germans, on yesterday’s reports, succeeded in gaining ground were in the region of the lower Somme, where enemy elements have penetrated as far as the River Bresle, 12 miles south of the Somme; and between St Quentin and Soissons, where some German detachments succeeded in penetrating to the heights bordering the right bank of the Aisne. It was estimated that the Germans threw more than 200 tanks into yesterday’s onslaught. The French claimed to have destroyed several hundred, one of the most successful methods-be-ing the use of shell-fire from bombers. All the Allied divisions are fighting magnificently.