Nazi officer praises superb U.S. fighting in Normandy invasion
A U.S. headquarters, France (UP) – (July 1)
A captured German officer paid tribute today to the “superb fighting machine” which “never let us alone night or day” and has, in less than four weeks, virtually completed its conquest of the Cherbourg Peninsula.
The officer, who directed a Nazi retreat from Quinéville to the Cap de la Hague area, compared the speed and hitting power of the Allied armies with that of the best Nazi divisions early in the Russian campaign.
The Americans stormed Normandy beaches and poured into the breaches far quicker than the Nazis had expected, the officer said. Superior transports greatly aided the rapid advance, he said, and the airborne attack which preceded the landings contributed markedly to the disorganization of German resistance.