“WEST WALL”

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 July 1943, Page 3

“WEST WALL”

OF FORTRESS EUROPE VULNERABLE TO ARTILLERY ASSAULT. GUN TESTS IN UNITED STATES. (Ry Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright) (Received This Day, 10.40 a.m.) WASHINGTON, July 8. “Tests at an army proving ground in Maryland have shown that the German West Wall is not impregnable and can be crumbled by American big guns,” said the Ordnance chief, MajorGeneral Levin Campbell. “The Army has constructed a miniature West Wall, consisting of a good-sized blockhouse of high grade concrete, the same thickness as the original, reinforced with steel strips and dirt heaps. Various American guns, of a size capable of being transported across the Channel, were placed at a certain distance and reduced the ersatz West Wall to a broken and pulverised ruin, with twisted and broken steel rods sticking out like strands of rigid spaghetti.” General Campbell ascribed the good results to the high explosive and arm-our-piercing shells. “The tests demonstrated,” he said, “that we can handle the West Wall at a considerable number of miles. The Nazis conducted similar tests before attacking the Maginot Line and the Russian fortifications.” The “New York Times” points out that General Campbell’s disclosure is significant because it is the first time that a high-ranking Army officer has described the West Wall as vulnerable to artillery. The assault also demonstrates the extent of the Army plans for the day when our troops will storm the fortress of Europe. AIR UMBRELLA FOR TROOPS OF UNITED NATIONS. ON WAY TO FIGHTING FRONTS. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.50 a.m.) RUGBY, July 8. “We plan to produce an umbrella of safety and put it over the heads of the fighting men of the United Nations,' said Mr Donald Nelson in Washington today. “We plan to lay down a barrage of safety before them as they advance. We plan to carry them safely through all the waters of the globe on their way to the fighting fronts.’