ATTACKS ON VAST SCALE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 June 1940, Page 5

ATTACKS ON VAST SCALE

MORE THAN TWO MILLION GERMANS ENGAGED Allied Generalissimo Anticipates End of Enemy Effort INCREASING ACTIVITY OF ALLIED AIR FORCES WIDESPREAD DAMAGE DONE BEHIND NAZI LINES A military observer in Paris declared that yesterday was the crucial day of the great German offensive, a Daventry broadcast states. Between 90 and 100 German divisions, more than 2,000,000 men, have been flung into the attack. General Weygand has issued an order of the day callingon the troops to hold fast and to fig'ht without thought of retreat. The safety of the country required, he said, not only courage, but all the resolution, initiative and fighting spirit of which they were capable. The enemy, he added, w’ould soon reach the end of his effort. In the Ardennes the Germans have launched an extremely powerful attack, in which forty divisions have been thrown in on a front of 25 miles. At Amiens the attack was more violent than ever. At the end of the day the Germans had got to a point about half-way between Amiens and Beauvais. Three hundred German tanks which crossed the river Bresle are reported to have been destroyed. An Air Ministry broadcast by Daventry states that during Saturday night heavy bombers of the R.A.F. carried out a number of attacks on military objectives in Germany and Northern France. Near Abbeville direct hits were obtained on the main railway bridge and on ammunition stores. Aerodromes at Abbeville and in Holland were also attacked. German •marshalling’ yards were bombed and large fires started. On Saturday medium bombers of the R.A.F. continued to attack the enemy’s lines of communications, including road junctions and river crossings behind the fighting lines. Troop concentrations and columns of armoured vehicles were also bombed. Two British aircraft are missing. These operations were continued during the night, when key points were attacked by heavy, bombers and ammunition dumps concealed in the Ardennes woods were blown up. Other formations of heavy bombers attacked military objectives from the Ardennes to the Rhineland and the Ruhr. Aircraft of the Coastal Command attacked oil storage tanks at Ghent, causing extensive damage and starting many fires. All the machines returned. Ten enemy aircraft, including seven bombers, were shot down. Two British machines are missing.

Further details of the damage done to the oil storage tanks at Ghent show that the last airmen taking part in the attack considered it would be a waste of bombs to drop any more on the tanks, which were in flames. Five railway lines, two of which were filled with covered vehicles, were seen and bombs dropped. A number of big explosions followed. Further British successes are reported in the air, although the odds were more than two to one against them. Eight Hurricanes on patrol met a flight of 20 Heinkel bombers and shot down six of them. Ten Messerschmitts escorting the enemy bombers were unable to protect them and one Messerschmitt was shot down. Two Hurricanes are missing.