Operation OVERLORD (1944)

171

Mosley: Paratroopers spring trap on 600 German grenadiers

By Leonard Mosley

With British 6th Airborne Division, France (AP) – (June 12, delayed)
Paratroop Capt. Charles Bliss had that grin on his face that always means something brewing.

Charles said:

This is going to be good. Do you remember the gap we left in our lines just around Bréville? Well, Jerry’s found it at last and he’s coming through. We have a report of at least 600 panzer grenadiers advancing through the woods and believe they’re going to try to drive through Ranville to break our line and gain the east bank of the river. well, what we are going to do to those Jerries should make a nice little story for you. Look.

He pointed along the walls and through the orchards and when you looked hard, you could see British troops everywhere.

They were well dug in among bushes and grass, and only the green camouflaged tops of their helmets poked around the skyline – that and the muzzles of their Brens, heavy machine guns and Stens.

See for approach

It was just before noon that we saw out first Germans. Over on the other side of the dropping zone, you could suddenly see figures moving among trees. We watched them forming up into batches of 10-15 men.

No one fired at them. Only the dull boom of artillery from somewhere away in the distance, and the busy hum of fighting planes disturbed the placid Saturday morning.

Shortly after noon, the German attack began. In those batches of 10 and 15, spread out over 200 or 300 yards, the German infantrymen came in at a run. They moved through the waving corn in the black ploughland until they reached a line of wrecked gliders. Then, they fell on their faces and lay there. After a few minutes they got up again, ran forward, then fell flat again. It went on like that for about 400 yards. Still, no one fired.

Mortar gun fires

From somewhere in the wood now a German mortar gun was going into action and its shells fell all around us and in the serried rows of gravestones in a churchyard. Splinters fell among us. There were casualties. But there was no retaliation.

Stretcher-bearers wriggled forward and dragged wounded men away, but never showed themselves against the skyline.

Now the enemy was gaining confidence from the stillness. Smelling no danger, his loping advances were longer, his periods flat on the ground of only a few seconds duration. He came on fast. He kept on coming until he was about 100 yards away. Then at a prearranged signal every automatic weapon, every rifle in the paratroops’ line opened up. It was a roar that set your teeth chattering with shock.

You suddenly saw the Germans grimacing wildly, clutching their bodies, throwing up their hands, then falling by the dozens into the corn. They all flung themselves down and the British paratroops continued their fire.

Rain of bullets

A rain of bullets surged across those 100 yards of French farmland and battered into the huddles on the grass. The earth was scuffed up in showers of corn and went down as if under a flail.

But the Germans weren’t beaten yet. One of their officers rose to his feet and called to his men, and those not wounded charged once more. This time, the paratroops held their fire even longer, and it was 23-30 yards when the small-arms barrage hit the enemy.

Fingers squeezed triggers almost simultaneously up and down the line. In writhing heaps, the Germans went down again. And now the remnants turned and began to flee.

Bullets chased them across the field as they raced for woods. But only a few made that shelter, for now our shells and mortars came into play and plastered a river of steel between the enemy and the sanctuary for which he was racing.

Hundreds killed

By 10 o’clock, it was all over, and the dropping zone was littered now not only with gliders and containers, but with hundreds of enemy dead and enemy wounded.

On Sunday morning, the Germans tried again to blast through to Ranville.

Once more they came in batches, and once more the British mowed them down with the same grim efficiency. That same morning, they had enough and went limping away to the safety of the marshes beyond the Orne.

With the men who had killed them – boys from Lancashire, Yorkshire, Somerset – I went into the woods to see the flotsam and jetsam this short but bloody war had left. Everywhere was death. But it was Nazi death. At least 400 had been killed and nearly 2,000 made prisoners. And in breaking the whole of a German regiment and capturing its commander, British losses did not number over 50 all told, including wounded.

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172

German prisoners display treachery

With British forces in France (AP) – (June 12, delayed)
German prisoners on the Western Front have to be watched almost as carefully as Japanese in the Pacific.

Three British soldiers and a photographer were standing in a doorway watching a column of Nazi captives passing through a village late yesterday. Suddenly there was a violent explosion. All four were killed. One of the German prisoners had tossed a hand grenade which he had somehow managed to hide.

Facts about the behavior and control of anthracite mine fires, published recently by the government, will provide mining engineers with life- and property-saving information.

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173

Women join Navy as invasion begins

News of the Allied invasion of France prompted many Virginia women to join the WAVES, Navy Recruiter Alton Frix said here today.

He quoted LtCdr. Charles L. Kessler, the officer in charge of Navy recruiting in Virginia, as saying:

Since word of the invasion of Western Europe reached Virginia, young women have been responding magnificently. Most of them realize now is the time to help Uncle Sam and the U.S. Navy in their task.

Full information concerning enlistment in the Navy or WAVES may be secured from Frix at the Navy recruiting substation in the post office building here each Monday,

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174

Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (June 15, 1944)

Communiqué No. 20

Further steady progress has been made west of CARENTAN and between the rivers VIRE and ELLÉ.

Allied troops have repulsed several violent armored attacks in the CAUMONT-TILLY sector with considerable loss to the enemy.

In the CHERBOURG PENINSULA, ground gained in the area of QUINÉVILLE has made available a valuable new outlet from the beaches.

During yesterday, mobile batteries on the flanks were engaged as necessary by Allied warships. On the eastern flank HMS BELFAST (Capt. A. H. MAXWELL-HYSLOP, AM RN) engaged the batteries of LE HAVRE.

During an unsuccessful enemy air attack in the western assault area, an enemy aircraft was shot down by the USS AUGUSTA (Capt. E. H. Jones, USN) wearing the flag of RAdm. ALAN GOODRICH KIRK, USN.

Convoys of Allied merchant ships are arriving satisfactorily and the armies continue to build up with men, stores and equipment.

Allied aircraft in great strength ranged from the CHERBOURG PENINSULA southwards to the LOIRE and eastwards to CHARTRES and PARIS, continuing their attacks on communications, airfields, and tactical targets. Coastal aircraft kept up their attacks on enemy shipping in the channel early today.

Heavy bombers in great strength attacked many targets in FRANCE this morning, including railyards at ANGOULÊME, airfields near BORDEAUX and PARIS, and railway bridges near TOURS. They were escorted by strong forces of fighters which also strafed ground targets. In these operations, twelve enemy planes were destroyed. Three of our bombers and three of our fighters are missing.

Medium and light bombers attacked bridges at CONDÉ-SUR-NOIREAU, SAINT-LÔ, LESSAY, CHARTRES and COLTAINVILLE, and a road junction at ARGENTAN. None of these bombers was lost.

Fighter bombers and fighters provided close support for the ground forces and swept over NORMANDY, attacking supply dumps, troop concentrations, tanks, convoys, and railway bridges. Other fighters attacked a ferry at QUILLEBEUF near the mouth of the SEINE. In the course of a patrol this morning, five enemy fighters were destroyed near ÉVREUX.

Photographic reconnaissance shows that the German naval forces in the port of LE HAVRE suffered very severely from the attack by heavy night bombers on the evening of June 14.

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175

Völkischer Beobachter (June 16, 1944)

Bewegungskrieg auf engem Raum

Verzweifelt ringen die Eindringlinge in der Normandie um Entfaltungsmöglichkeiten

vb. Wien, 15. Juni –
Der Kampf in der Normandie beginnt immer mehr die Züge zu tragen, die ihm die starken Panzerverbände von beiden Seiten geben. Das bedeutet, daß er immer mehr die Züge des Bewegungskrieges annimmt. Aber zugleich sind in der Normandie die Wesensmerkmale des Bewegungskrieges so verändert, daß zum Schluss doch – bisher wenigstens – die schnelle Veränderung des Frontverlaufs, die eigentlich zum Begriff des Bewegungskrieges gehört, aufgehoben erscheint.

Wir sehen starke Panzergeschwader vorbrechen, wir sehen sie mit ihrer beträchtlichen Geschwindigkeit gewisse Strecken Landes durchqueren, aber wir sehen auch, daß der Frontverlauf nach Westen und Süden immer noch, wenigstens im Großen gesehen, derselbe ist wie gegen Ende vergangener Woche. Der Gegner ist seit acht Tagen bestrebt, den Brückenkopf mit Hilfe seiner Panzerdivisionen zu erweitern. Er kann seine Angriffe wohl über eine gewisse Strecke vortragen, er stößt aber dann auf heftigen deutschen Gegendruck und auf Gegenangriffe und wird gezwungen, das eben noch gewonnene Gebiet wieder aufzugeben. Es ist also eine im taktischen Verlauf etwas seltsame Form des Panzerkrieges, die sich hier abspielt, gleichsam ein Bewegungskrieg auf engem Raum. Natürlich ist die Front hier nicht erstarrt, wie sie es 1917 war, sie ist flüssig und unaufhörlich in Veränderung begriffen. Aber im Ganzen ändert sich die Gesamtlinie nur sehr wenig.

Auch die Gegner berichten, daß sie am Mittwoch eine Reihe der Dörfer und Kleinstädte, die sie zunächst nach Süden und Nordwesten hingenommen hatten, wieder aufgeben mußten, daß sie da und dort wieder „hinausgeworfen“ worden sind. Auch sie können nicht bestreiten, daß sowohl ihre Versuche, nach der Tiefe Raum zu gewinnen, wie die anderen, sich Cherbourg vom Rücken her zu nähern, erfolglos geblieben sind. Ihre Angriffe in den letzten vierundzwanzig Stunden beweisen von neuem, wie stark Montgomery unter dem strategischen Zwang steht, anzugreifen. Die Angriffe der letzten Tage sind denn auch mit noch größerer Wucht und Kraft unternommen worden wie die der Vortage. Aber sie sind dafür auch wieder auf noch stärkeren deutschen Gegendruck gestoßen. Die Schlacht hat also noch an Umfang wie an Erbitterung zugenommen. Aber am Ende der hin und her wogenden Kämpfe stand dann fast die gleiche Frontlinie wie vorher.

Wir haben also das merkwürdige Bild, daß große Verbände einer starken und schnellen Waffe miteinander kämpfen, daß ihr Einsatz immer stärker wird und daß die Gesamtentwicklung doch etwas Ruhendes hat. Das bedeutet nicht, daß der Einsatz der Kräfte nicht noch gesteigert werden kann. Wir müssen versuchen, uns in die Gedanken des Gegners zu versetzen. Nach dem, was er vorher ausgeplaudert hat, aber auch nach dem objektiven Bild der Lage, hat er sich den Verlauf der Schlacht ganz anders vorgestellt.

Er hat geglaubt, leichter an Land zu kommen, er hat geglaubt, bessere Landeplätze zu linden, und er hat geglaubt, nach neun Tagen tiefer im Lande zu sein. Vor allen Dingen hat er geglaubt, mit weniger Verlusten davonzukommen, als es nun der Fall ist.

Die Darstellungen der englischen und amerikanischen Kriegsberichter sprechen da eine deutliche Sprache. Wenn der General Montgomery den Anschluss an den ursprünglichen „Fahrplan“ Eisenhowers wiedergewinnen will, muß er den Zwang zum Angriff sehr stark empfinden. Der gleiche Zwang geht von seiner gegenwärtigen Lage aus. Er hat keinen rechten Raum zur Entfaltung seiner Heeresgruppe. Er muß sehen, daß er ihn sich schafft.

Er wird kaum mit sehr leichten Gefühlen in den neuen Abschnitt der Invasion gehen. Er spürt den wachsenden deutschen Gegendruck, er liest die Zahlen der schweren Verluste. Dazu muß seine Sorge um den Nachschub sich von Tag zu Tag vergrößern. Je mehr sich die deutsche Luftwaffe und die leichten deutschen Seestreitkräfte auf den Kampf an der normannischen Küste haben einstellen können, umso häufiger und erfolgreicher sind sie am Feind. Die Versenkungszahlen der Wehrmachtberichte sprechen eine deutliche Sprache. Die Behinderung des Nachschubs ist umso empfindlicher für Montgomery, als er ja auch gezwungen ist, für die starken Ausfälle an Menschen und Material Ersatz herbeizuschaffen und damit die ohnehin beschränkten Möglichkeiten der Anlandungen noch zu überanstrengen.

Aber wir möchten annehmen, daß Montgomery trotz aller dieser Erschwernisse dem Zwang der Lage gehorchen wird, der ihm befiehlt anzugreifen. Vermutlich werden seine Vorstöße an Stärke wie an Heftigkeit noch zunehmen, er wird damit versuchen, sich den Weg aus der Enge des Raumes zu bahnen.

Auch der Wehrmachtbericht sagt, daß die Schlacht in der Normandie ihrem Höhepunkt zustrebt. Sie verläßt allmählich das Stadium der Einleitung und der Vorbereitung. Sie nähert sich dem entscheidenden Stadium. Es muß wiederholt werden, daß diese Entscheidungen kaum in einem einzigen Schlage lallen werden. Nach menschlichem Ermessen werden sie in einer Reihe von großen Kämpfen herbeigeführt werden.

176

Englische Stimme zur Verworrenheit der Kriegsziele –
Wofür kämpft der amerikanische Soldat?

Genf, 15. Juni –
„Erfolg und Kampfgeist eines auf fremden Boden kämpfenden US-Heeres werden am leichtesten gewährleistet, wenn die Kriegsziele so einfach wie möglich dargelegt werden,“ schreibt Saturday Evening Post.

In dem Artikel wird auf einen Brief hingewiesen, den der Militärkritiker der New York Times von einem Unteroffizier des US-Heeres erhalten hat. Der Unteroffizier sagte, daß von all den eben eingezogenen nordamerikanischen Männern, die ihm begegnet seien, diejenigen an den Fingern abgezählt werden könnten, „die eine grundlegende, klare Vorstellung über diesen Krieg haben.“ Diese Verworrenheit sei nicht schwer zu verstehen. Der einleuchtende Grund dafür sei die Tatsache, „daß wir nicht unseren eigenen Boden verteidigen.“ Unglücklicherweise herrsche über die praktische Anwendung solcher Grundsätze, wie sie die Atlantik-Erklärung und andere darstellen sollten, keine richtige Einstimmigkeit. So lese man, daß Churchill sie nicht für Deutschland in Anwendung bringe und anscheinend einer Lösung der polnischen Frage zustimme, durch die die Sowjets den größten Teil Polens schlucken würden. Stalin schließe auch die baltischen Staaten davon aus.

Der in Verwirrung geratene Amerikaner, der sich als Verfechter des „freien Unternehmertums“ betrachte, erkenne viel Agitationsmache mit dem Schlagwort von der Zerstörung der deutschen Militärmacht, die man als Vorwand für die Zerstörung des deutschen Industriesystems benutzen wolle. Eine beachtenswerte Gruppe Amerikaner nehme an, daß „wir kämpfen, um in Deutschland die Form von Wirtschaft zu zerstören, die wir in Amerika verteidigen.“

Noch verwickelter gestalte sich die Situation dadurch, daß Schriftsteller und Propagandisten laut verkündeten, daß die Atlantik-Erklärung Schwindel sei, falls Polen nicht genau seine Grenzen von 1939 wieder hergestellt bekomme, während andere wieder verkündeten, die Atlantik-Erklärung fordere, Polen und die baltischen Staaten den Sowjets auszuhändigen, oder, alle Soldaten der Alliierten kämpften vergebens, falls die Forderungen der unbefriedigten Gruppen von Neuyork bis Kalkutta nicht vollständig liquidiert würden. Der Brief des oben zitierten US-Soldaten zeigt eindeutig, wie verworren das ganze Gerede von sogenannten Kriegszielen der Alliierten ist. Die Eingeständnisse dieses amerikanischen Soldaten sprechen Bände.

Bradley Montgomery unterstellt

b—r. Bern, 15. Juni –
In London wurde mitgeteilt, daß der englische General Montgomery zum Befehlshaber aller anglo-amerikanischen Streitkräfte auf französischem Boden ernannt worden ist. Der amerikanische General Bradley wurde ihm unterstellt.

Als vor etwa einem halben Jahr die Ernennung der Befehlshaber für die „Zweite Front“ bekanntgegeben wurde, bezeichnete sie Montgomery als Befehlshaber der englischen und Bradley als Befehlshaber der nordamerikanischen Streitkräfte unter Eisenhower.

Bei Beginn der Invasion am 6. Juni wurde Montgomery in den ersten Meldungen schon als Befehlshaber aller beteiligten Streitkräfte, Engländer, Kanadier und Amerikaner, genannt. Jetzt ergibt es sich anscheinend, daß er nur das Kommando der im Brückenkopf zwischen Orne- und Viremündung eingesetzten Streitkräfte hatte, während Bradley für das Gebiet des zunächst isolierten Brückenkopfes nördlich Carentan selbständig neben Eisenhower stand. Wenn jetzt erst, neun Tage nach Beginn der Operationen, eine Änderung der Kommandoverhältnisse vorgenommen und der amerikanische dem englischen General unterstellt wird, so hängt das wohl nicht nur damit zusammen, daß die Brückenköpfe allmählich zusammengewachsen sind und daher einer einheitlichen Leitung bedürfen, die ja durch Eisenhower ohnehin gewährleistet sein sollte, vielmehr drückt sich darin offenbar eine Kritik an der Leistung Bradleys aus, dessen Brückenkopfgebiet bisher nur wenig ausgeweitet worden ist und dessen Vorstöße gegen den von der anglo-amerikanischen Strategie angestrebten Hafen Cherbourg kaum von der Stelle gekommen sind.

177

Innsbrucker Nachrichten (June 16, 1944)

Südengland und das Stadtgebiet von London mit neuartigen Sprengkörpern bombardiert

Erfolgreiche Gegenangriffe in der Normandie – Weitere Bekämpfung feindlicher Ausladungen – Erbitterte Kämpfe in Mittelitalien – Wieder ein deutsches Lazarettschiff bombardiert – Sowjetische Vorstöße in hohen Norden gescheitert

map.61644.dnb

Aus dem Führer-Hauptquartier, 16. Juni –
Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt:

Südengland und das Stadtgebiet von London wurden in der vergangenen Nacht und heute Vormittag mit neuartigen Sprengkörpern schwersten Kalibers belegt.

Der vergangene Tag stand in der Normandie im Zeichen erfolgreicher Gegenangriffe unserer Truppen, Panzerverbände trieben östlich der Orne einen Keil in den feindlichen Brückenkopf. Westlich Caumont sowie südöstlich und südwestlich Carentan warfen unsere Divisionen den Feind zurück und festigten ihre Stellungen. Die feindlichen Verluste waren besonders bei den Kämpfen im Raum von Carentan hoch.

Auch im Raum westlich und nördlich Sainte-Mère-Église hielten heftige Kämpfe an. Der Feind konnte dort nur geringen Geländegewinn erzielen.

Die Bekämpfung der feindlichen Ausladungen vor dem Landekopf wurde auch in der letzten Nacht durch unsere Luftwaffe erfolgreich fortgesetzt. Sie erzielte Bombentreffer in Schiffsansammlungen und Ausladungen.

Die im Kampfraum der Invasionsfront eingesetzten Bataillone der Freiwilligenverbände des Ostens haben steh bei den schweren Kämpfen voll bewährt und tapfer geschlagen.

Vorposten- und Minensuchverbände haben sich bei der Bekämpfung der Invasionsflotte in zahlreichen harten See- und Luftgefechten sowie bei der unter schwierigen Bedingungen durchgeführten Räumung feindlicher Minensperren und der Verminung feindlicher Schifffahrtswege besonders bewährt.

Bei einem Angriff britischer Bomben- und Torpedoflugzeuge auf ein deutsches Geleit vor Borkum wurden zehn feindliche Flugzeuge durch Sicherungsfahrzeuge und Bordflak zum Absturz gebracht Ein eigenes Fahrzeug ging verloren.

Vor der niederländischen Küste versenkten Vorpostenboote ein großes britisches Schnellboot und beschädigten ein weiteres schwer.

In Mittelitalien setzte der Feind seine Angriffe mit massierten Infanterie- und Panzerkräften vor allem im Raum nördlich und nordöstlich von Orvieto während des ganzen Tages fort. Die Kämpfe dauern in zwei Einbruchsstellen noch an.

Feindliche Flugzeuge griffen am 15. Juni vor der westitalienischen Küste erneut das deutsche Lazarettschiff „Erlangen“ an und warfen es in Brand.

An der Ostfront fanden auch gestern keine wesentlichen Kampfhandlungen statt.

Im hohen Norden scheiterten im Kandalakscha-Abschnitt erneut Vorstöße der Sowjets verlustreich für den Feind.

Im Finnischen Meerbusen beschädigten Sicherheitsfahrzeuge der Kriegsmarine ein erfolglos angreifendes sowjetisches Schnellboot. Wachfahrzeuge schossen über der Narwabucht fünf feindliche Flugzeuge ab.

Vor der Fischerhalbinsel griffen sowjetische Bombenflugzeuge und Schnellboote ein deutsches Geleit erfolglos an. Auch feindliche Küstenbatterien griffen in das Gefecht ein. Ein feindliches Schnellboot wurde dabei schwer beschädigt, zehn feindliche Flugzeuge wurden durch unsere Jäger vernichtet.

Ein schwächerer nordamerikanischer Bomberverband flog gestern nach Nordwestdeutschland ein und warf zerstreut Bomben im Raum von Hannover.

Angriffe einzelner britischer Flugzeuge richteten sich in der vergangenen Nacht gegen das rheinisch-westfälische Gebiet.

Deutsche Flugzeuge griffen wiederum Ziele in Südostengland an.

178

Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (June 16, 1944)

Communiqué No. 21

There has been no major change in any sector, but Allied troops have made further progress west of Pont-l’Abbé. All attempts by the enemy to gain the initiative have been frustrated and his counterattacks have been successfully repelled. Our striking power grows steadily.

Despite rain and limited visibility over many parts of FRANCE yesterday, the Allied air forces flew 3,000 sorties, many of them by aircraft based in FRANCE attacking targets indicated by advanced air force and army headquarters.

In the afternoon, medium bombers hit fuel and supply dumps, bridges and other communications targets from VALOGNES in the CHERBOURG PENINSULA to LAVAL and DOMFRONT about 75 miles behind the enemy lines. One medium bomber is missing.

Fighter-bombers, fighters and rocket-firing fighters were active throughout the day. Their objectives included railway yards at LE MANS, FOUGÈRES, MAYENNE, VIRE, GRANVILLE, FOLLIGNY, HYENVILLE, CHARTRES and COLTAINVILLE, and a bridge over the ORNE near AMAYÉ. East of CAEN fighter-bombers attacked enemy troops and tanks sheltering in woods and orchards. Others bombed SEINE river ferries, observation posts, radio stations, artillery concentrations and several bridges and railway lines near SAINT-LÔ. In these activities, 14 enemy aircraft were destroyed for the loss of seven of ours.

Last night our heavy bombers in great strength attacked concentrations of E- and R-boats and minesweepers in BOULOGNE harbor as well as railway centers at VALENCIENNES and LENS and fuel dumps at CHÂTELLERAULT and FOUILLARD. Fourteen bombers are missing.

Four enemy aircraft were destroyed and others were damaged over FRANCE by our night intruders.

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179

The Free Lance-Star (June 16, 1944)

YANKS AIM FOR ROAD CENTER
Driving to sever lines leading to Cherbourg

Nazi resistance grows in violence
By Wes Gallagher

Allied array in Normandy

map.61644ap
Here is the disposition of Allied divisions thus far officially disclosed to be participating in the battle of the Normandy beachhead (black line). Six U.S. Army divisions have been officially reported in action in the areas indicated by the pointers in the western sector, and two British and one Canadian division in the eastern sector.

SHAEF, London, England (AP) –
Lt. Gen. Bradley’s troops, ramming home another blow to cut off Cherbourg, have advanced to within two and a half miles east of Saint-Sauveur, a junction controlling two of the three roads leading to the nearly beleaguered port, Allied headquarters announced today.

The Americans marked up a gain of two and a half to three miles west of Carentan after having previously reached Regnéville, three miles to the northeast of Saint-Sauveur.

Plugging away on a 10-mile front and rapping out repeated gains despite stubborn resistance, the Americans were now within 11 miles of the Cherbourg Peninsula’s west coast beaches. Their spearhead was some 17 miles below the big port.

While Bradley’s Yanks still fought a dingdong battle with Germans in the streets of Montebourg, 14 miles southeast of Cherbourg on the allied right flank, the British were engaged in stiff tank battles with German troops in force two miles south of Caumont. This is about 20 miles inland, the deepest Allied penetration.

Tank battles also still raged around Caen and Tilly-sur-Seulles on the Allied left flank.

Weather turns bad

Meanwhile, headquarters reported the worst weather over the battlefields since D-Day with a 20-mile-an-hour northwest wind blowing onto the beaches – the only place the Allies now hold for the reinforcement and supply of their invasion armies.

Despite the weather, however, the battleships USS Texas and USS Nevada and the cruiser USS Augusta were reported arching their shells deep inland in support of the troops driving across the peninsula.

A few miles south of the U.S. spearhead pointed at Saint-Sauveur was another column pushing toward Le Haye-du-Puits, a road junction controlling all the remaining roads leading into Cherbourg. The Americans were last reported about six miles from this objective.

A late dispatch from Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s advanced command post said it was estimated 300,000 German troops had been thrown against the Normandy beachhead.

This dispatch said four German divisions had been badly mauled in battle, including the 709th, 711th and 352nd.

Reserves sent in

Alive to the vital necessity of holding Saint-Sauveur and Le Haye-du-Puits, the Germans rushed reserves into the battle and vigorous, fluid fighting was in progress.

The German communiqué said the Nazis drove the Allied back southeast and southwest of Carentan, but admitted Allied gains west and north of Sainte-Mère-Église. It also claimed that a wedge had been driven into the allied bridgehead east of the Orne River.

West of newly-captured Quinéville, on the extreme right wing of the 100-mile beachhead front, U.S. forces advanced a mile or more to reach the Sinope River.

These were the only advances registered along the front. Communiqué No. 21 said there were no major changes.

Furious armored fighting raged in the Tilly-sur-Seulles sector, while further east, the battle of Caen settled into trench warfare with the British and Canadians holding on tenaciously. The nearest approach to a “line” was held around Troarn, at the extreme left flank of the bridgehead.

Generals up front

Field dispatches said mobile fighting in the spearheads of the American sector found generals in the frontline with their troops, tossing hand grenades and firing rifles side by side with privates.

U.S. columns pushing forward sometimes were cut off and had to fight their way back into contact with the main forces.

Weather hampered air operations somewhat, but unloading of troops and supplies on the beachhead continued at full blast, and Supreme Headquarters declared Montgomery’s striking power “is growing daily.”

Photographs of Le Havre after a raid by RAF Lancasters Wednesday night showed the German E-boats, which had been lurking there to attack the flanks of the ceaseless trans-Channel convoys, had disappeared. Before the raid, 10 E-boats and motor torpedo boats had been seen in the harbor.

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180

Aerial offensive sweeping Europe

Nazis send pilotless bomb-loaded craft over Britain
By Gladwin Hill

SHAEF, London, England (AP) –
The Allied aerial offensive against continental targets swept on today after RAF heavy bombers made their second big high-altitude pre-dusk precision attack yesterday plastering 12,000-pound bombs on Nazi E-boat, R-boat and minesweeper pens at Boulogne.

Meanwhile, it was announced that the Germans, in a desperate gesture against Allied air superiority, had begun hurling pilotless bomb-carrying aircraft against Britain.

As the aerial assault im support of the Normandy invasion rolled on this morning, the German radio reported hostile aircraft approaching the Austrian provinces of Carinthia and Styria.

Big British four-engine Lancasters, with their fighter escort, hit the French channel port of Boulogne first at 10:30 p.m. yesterday – just before dusk. The attack was similar to one the RAF made Wednesday on installations at Le Havre – a strike which reconnaissance indicated was very successful.

Other British heavy bombers continuing the attack into the night, hit railway centers at Valenciennes and Lens and a fuel dump at Châtellerault. Fourteen bombers were missing from all these operations which Allied night intruder planes destroyed four enemy aircraft and damaged others over France.

The evening and night operations also saw a Mosquito force hit targets in western Germany. These blows were a thunderous follow-up to yesterday’s daylight operations which included attacks by an armada of 1,300 U.S. heavy bombers.

In addition to the U.S. heavy bomber blows, Supreme Headquarters announced that 3,000 sorties were made by Allied planes yesterday in direct support of the ground operations in Normandy. Many of these were flown by planes based in France.

During yesterday afternoon, medium bombers hit fuel and supply dumps, bridges and other communications targets from Valognes in the Cherbourg Peninsula to Laval about 75 miles behind the enemy lines.

The use by the Germans of pilotless aircraft against Britain was disclosed in the House of Commons by Herbert Stanley Morrison, Home Secretary and Minister of Home Security. A small number were used in raids on Britain last Tuesday morning, and a larger number last night and this morning. The latest attack was described as the more serious of the two.

181

Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (June 16, 1944)

Communiqué No. 22

Advances by Allied Forces westward from Pont-l’Abbé in the CHERBOURG PENINSULA have continued. Our troops had local successes in the TILLY sector, but the town remained in enemy hands. Active patrolling has been kept up by both sides.

Adverse weather during the morning once again restricted our air activity, which was confined to limited patrols over the supply beaches and adjacent Channel waters and the immediate battle zone.

Yesterday HMS RAMILLIES (Capt. G. B. MIDDLETON, CBE ADC RN) engaged a battery at BENERVILLE on our eastern flank, which she silenced after an hour’s duel, while HMS NELSON (Capt. H. H. MAXWELL-HYSLOP, AM RN) engaged an enemy battery north of LE HAVRE, which had been firing into the anchorage. Enemy batteries and concentrations were bombarded throughout the day by Allied cruisers.

On the western flank, the USS TEXAS (Capt. C. A. BAKER, USN), wearing the flag of RAdm. CARLETON F. BRYANT, USN, the USS NEVADA (Capt. P. M. RHEA, USN) and the USS ARKANSAS (Capt. F. G. RICHARDS, USN) carried out heavy bombardments in support of the armies near ISIGNY and CARENTAN.

182

Völkischer Beobachter (June 17, 1944)

‚Orkanartiges Artilleriefeuer über dem Invasionsbrückenkopf‘
Montgomerys Lage kritisch

dr. th. b. Stockholm, 16. Juni –
Die ungeheure Härte der sich ihrem Höhepunkt nähernden großen Schlacht in der Normandie kommt nun in den Berichten der britischen und amerikanischen Kriegskorrespondenten voll zum Ausdruck. „Die Kämpfe an den Fronten des Brückenkopfes,“ so heißt es heute in der Meldung eines Amerikaners, „rasen jetzt mit einer bisher niemals beobachteten Heftigkeit. Das Artilleriefeuer wächst stündlich zu Orkanstärke an. Man hat den Eindruck, als ob ein Steppenbrand von riesigem Umfang über die Kanten des Brückenkopfes eingebrochen ist.“

Als besonders blutig werden die Kämpfe um die Stadt Tilly bezeichnet, wo britisch-amerikanische Verbände sich unter schwersten Blutopfern den deutschen Panzern entgegenwerfen. Tilly gleicht der flandrischen Stadt Ypern im ersten Weltkrieg. Wenn die feindlichen Berichterstatter auch versichern, daß der deutsche Gegenangriff nicht unerwartet gekommen sei, so hat seine Wucht anscheinend trotzdem überrascht. Im Hauptquartier Eisenhowers sehe man der weiteren Entwicklung, so heißt es in einer anderen Meldung, zwar ruhig entgegen, gebe aber zu, daß sich die Lage der Invasionstruppen kritischer gestaltet habe.

Für Montgomery käme es jetzt darauf an, seine Front intakt zu halten, auch wenn das um den Preis von Geländeverlusten geschehe. Noch vorgestern dagegen hieß es, Montgomery habe die Lage so fest in der Hand, daß er weitere Verluste nicht mehr zu befürchten brauche und jetzt dem Brückenkopf durch neue Vorstöße den erforderlichen operativen Raum geben könne.

Die Entwicklung in den nächsten 48 Stunden, so wird in Eisenhowers Hauptquartier weiter betont, wird von ungeheurer Bedeutung sein. Wenn die Deutschen in der Normandie alles auf eine Karte setzen, wie es den Anschein habe, und es ihnen nicht gelinge, die Invasionstruppen ins Meer zu werfen, so müsse das sowohl militärisch wie moralisch auf die deutsche Kriegsmaschine einwirken, wenn es zu neuen Landungen komme und dann dürfte die Lage eintreten, daß die Deutschen alle Kräfte in der Normandie eingesetzt und andere Invasionsgebiete von Truppen entblößt hätten.

Es ist zwar rührend von den feindlichen Berichterstattern, die deutsche Führung davor zu warnen, „in der Normandie alles auf eine Karte zu setzen,“ nötig aber ist es noch nicht. Heute weiß jedes Kind in Deutschland, daß der Kampf gegen die Invasionstruppen in der Normandie von der Überlegung bestimmt ist, daß noch weitere Angriffe gegen den europäischen Kontinent zu erwarten sind und daß deshalb die deutsche Führung mit ihren Reserven eher haushälterischer umgehen wird, anstatt sie blindlings in den Mahlstrom einer einzigen gewaltigen Materialschlacht zu werfen.

Über den Verlauf der Kämpfe wird an Einzelheiten noch folgendes amtlich berichtet:

Am Südrand des feindlichen Brückenkopfes in der Normandie hielt auch am Donnerstag der starke Druck der Briten und Nordamerikaner an. Südwestlich Tilly-sur-Seulles warf der Feind eine frische Panzerdivision in den Kampf, um den Gegenangriff der deutschen Truppen im Quellgebiet der Aure aufzuhalten. Dennoch konnten unsere Infanterie- und Panzerverbände weiter Boden gewinnen und das letzte Stück der östlich Caumont bisher noch bestehenden Frontlücke schließen.

Beiderseits der Straße Bayeux-Saint-Lô setzten die Nordamerikaner ihren Angriff ebenfalls fort. Bis auf einen geringfügigen Einbruch bei Saint-André blieben aber alle Vorstöße erfolglos.

Mit weiteren starken Kräften leitete der Gegner neue Stöße im Raum südlich Carentan, und zwar zwischen der Tarde und dem großen Sumpfgebiet südlich Baupte nach Südwesten ein. Hier sind die schweren Kämpfe noch im Gange. Außer im Raum südwestlich Tilly machte der deutsche Gegenangriff auch östlich der Orne weitere Fortschritte. Der von Südosten her angesetzte Stoß gegen den britischen Frontvorsprung auf dem Ostufer der Orne gewann einige Ortschaften – darunter Touffreville, dass nun bereits zum drittenmal den Besitzer wechselte.

Vor der Ornemündung erschien der Feind weiter mit zahlreichen Schiffen. Im Laufe der Nachmittags- und Abendstunden entwickelten sich hier schwere Artilleriekämpfe zwischen deutschen Küstenbatterien und feindlichen Flotteneinheiten, unter denen sich vier Schlachtschiffe und eine Anzahl leichter Kreuzer befanden. Das Feuer unserer Küstenwerke lag so gut, daß sich die Kriegsschiffe einnebelten und abliefen. Ein einziges Küstenwerk wurde dabei durch ein Schlachtschiff, zwei Kreuzer und fünf Artillerieträger beschossen. Unsere Batterie hatte jedoch keinerlei Ausfälle oder Schäden und lieferte damit einen neuen Beweis für die Stärke der Atlantikbefestigungen.

Auch die Luftkämpfe nehmen täglich an Härte zu, da der Gegner in wachsendem Maße versucht, im Frontbereich wie im Hinterland alle Abwehr- und Angriffsbewegungen durch den Einsatz seiner Luftwaffe zu behindern. Die deutsche Jagdwaffe warf sich den oft in starken Wellen bis tief in den nordfranzösischen Raum vorstoßenden Bomber-, Jagdbomber- und Jägerformationen des Feindes immer wieder entschlossen entgegen. Vom ersten Morgengrauen bis zum letzten Abendlicht waren sie am Feind und erkämpften sich einen wesentlichen Anteil an den über 1.000 vernichteten feindlichen Flugzeugen, die laut Wehrmachtbericht vom 15. Juni bisher über dem Invasionsgebiet zur Strecke gebracht wurden.

183

Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (June 17, 1944)

Communiqué No. 23

Allied troops continue their advance with leading elements in SAINT-SAUVEUR-LE-VICOMTE. Local advances were made in the face of heavy enemy opposition between CAUMONT and TILLY. East of CAEN, a strong enemy attack was beaten off.

Throughout yesterday Allied cruisers and destroyers engaged gun batteries which the enemy had established on the eastern bank of the river ORNE.

Concentrations of enemy armor northeast of CAEN were bombarded by HMS RAMILLIES (Capt. G.H. Middleton, CBE ADC RN).

Merchant convoys continue to arrive at beaches steadily and in safety.

Adverse weather again restricted air operations yesterday afternoon and evening. Heavy bombers attacked enemy airfields near PARIS and LAON and objectives in the PAS-DE-CALAIS. Railway targets, road transport and tanks behind the battle zone were attacked by fighters and fighter-bombers, and an ammunition dump near CAEN by medium bombers. Fighters also flew protective patrols and escorted the bombers.

During the night, our light bombers attacked supply dumps in the CHERBOURG PENINSULA. Two enemy aircraft were shot down over NORMANDY.

184

The Free Lance-Star (June 17, 1944)

YANKS MAY CUT OFF GERMANS IN CHERBOURG
Americans push onward across peninsula

Heavy artillery hits escape road
By Wes Gallagher

Bulletin

SHAEF, London, England (AP) –
U.S. troops punched forward two to three miles today in the developing drive to choke off Cherbourg Peninsula.

SHAEF, London, England (AP) –
U.S. troops driving to punch off the top of the Cherbourg Peninsula brought the Germans’ last escape road under hammering artillery fire today, and a U.S. fighter pilot reported signs of German flight from the cape and its great port.

One U.S. column beating west of Carentan fought within four miles of La Haye-du-Puits, the Nazis’ last main road junction at the shortest neck of the peninsula, and forces farther north had cut Cherbourg’s western railway by seizing Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte. Still other Americans had recaptured Montebourg, 14 miles southeast of Cherbourg.

Even as artillery blasted the Germans’ last road on their dwindling western strip of the peninsula, an American pilot said he saw enemy trucks and staff cars moving south, and declared he believed the Germans “want to get out of there, but our troops are moving in fast as hell.”

‘Another Sevastopol’

Cherbourg threatened to become another Sevastopol for the Germans, with their escape cut off except by sea, as happened in the Crimea.

Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley, commanding six U.S. divisions fighting in two Army corps, said 3,283 Americans were killed and 12,600 wounded in the first 11 days of the invasion. These 15,883 casualties included reports up to last midnight, he told a press conference in France.

U.S. losses are expected to be higher than those of the British and Canadians – figures as yet undisclosed – because the U.S. 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions met the heaviest fighting on landing. Going ashore in the center, these units ran into a Nazi division holding maneuvers on a difficult beach. Both the British and Canadians made their original landings comparatively easily – as did other Americans on the west flank – although they have been engaged in heavy fighting since then.

Counterblows beaten

On the eastern end of the battlefront, Supreme Headquarters declared strong German attacks were beaten off east of Caen, and a headquarters officer said two unsuccessful Nazi counterblows in the Troarn area, seven miles beyond Caen were “extremely costly” to the enemy.

Toward the center, the Allies punched out local advances despite heavy opposition between Caumont and Tilly-sur-Seulles, the communiqué said.

The German High Command said Nazi counterattacks had regained the greater part of the forest area south of Bavent, three and a half miles north of Troarn, and east of the Orne River.

The biggest news of the day was the weather, which again blew at “force four” from the north. Any wind from “force three” or above delays unloading on the beachhead, Supreme Headquarters said.

It was officially disclosed that Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley, U.S. ground commander, has two Army corps under his command, the Fifth and the Seventh. The Fifth is composed of the 1st, 2nd and 29th Infantry Divisions while the Seventh includes the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions and the 4th Infantry Divisions.

It was these forces which registered the only new advances along the bridgehead front.

185

3,283 dead, 12,600 wounded is U.S. invasion toll

By Don Whitehead

With U.S. forces in France (AP) –
The U.S. Army had 3,283 killed and 12,600 wounded in opening the western front in Normandy, Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley said today.

The total of 15,883 casualties was for the first 11 days of the campaign, and included reports up to midnight last night, Gen. Bradley said.

He paid high tribute to the courage of doughboys in establishing the beachhead on the European continent.

The tall, tanned Missourian, looking extremely fit and in good spirits, appeared before beachhead correspondents in a group for the first time to discuss the campaign.

Bradley said casualties on the central beachhead, where the U.S. 1st Infantry Division and elements of the 29th Infantry Division landed, had run higher then anticipated, but that casualties in the peninsula area to the west had been lower than anticipated.

This casualty report confirmed Bradley’s confidence before the invasion when he predicted that the continent could be invaded without creating the bloodbath which the enemy insisted would result and which many persons expected.

Bradley’s first words to the correspondents who gathered in the tent under the shade of a huge beech tree were in praise of his doughboys and parachute troops and their leaders.

He said:

Only by guts, valor and extreme bravery on the part of the men and their leaders involved were we able to make the landing a success, and I cannot say too much for the parachute troops who dropped in the rear and made the job easier for the beach troops. They did a marvelous job.

D-Day casualties below casualties

Medical services set up immediately behind lines

SHAEF, London, England (AP) –
D-Day casualties were below what had been expected and planned for and less than one percent of the American wounded who reached medical stations died, it was officially disclosed today.

The invasion medical service surpassed that available in the North African landing or in World War I.

Extensive use was made of a new anesthetic, sodium pentanal, which is administered intravenously through an operation which is quicker acting and more pleasant than ether. This anesthetic, however, is unfeasible where abdominal relaxation is required.

The most frequent type of wound was from big expensive shell fragments in the arms and legs. In World War I, there was a big proportion of chest wounds because of more static fighting.

Evacuation hospitals with nurses were set up within five miles of fighting lines four days after D-Day and were doing major surgery within two hours.

There was extensive use of penicillin and sulfa drugs and many transfusions of plasma and whole blood which were delivered by both ship and air.

Gangrene from a gas-producing bacillus, which developed in about three percent of the wounds in the last war and which was greatly feared, has been almost negligible in the Normandy operation because of quick treatment. It occurred mainly among German wounded.

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186

RAF strikes Pas-de-Calais area

Attack aimed at bases for pilotless planes

Bulletin

SHAEF, London, England (AP) –
U.S. heavy bombers pounded half a dozen Nazi air bases in a great arc extending halfway around the Normandy battle zone today.

SHAEF, London, England (AP) –
RAF heavy bombers smashed last night at enemy installations in the Pas-de-Calais area of France from where the Germans are believed to be launching their pilotless planes, while other British formations hammered a synthetic oil plant near Duisburg and targets in Berlin.

The night blow against Pas-de-Calais came a few hours after U.S. Flying Fortresses and Liberators in the last hours of daylight yesterday pounded these same installations.

Despite day and night thrusts at that portion of the French coast nearest to England – an area battered repeatedly before the invasion – the Germans kept their mysterious robot planes hurtling across the channel last night in a continuation of attacks kept up yesterday and the previous night. Damage and casualties were caused in several places in England.

Although miserable flying weather once more hampered the air support of the invasion armies yesterday, Supreme Headquarters said 2,500 sorties (individual plane flights) were flown by Allied air units – about 1,000 of them by U.S. heavy bombers and their escort in the twilight smash at the Pas-de-Calais.

The night attack on Berlin was made by Mosquitos, while British Lancasters and Halifaxes continued the Allied campaign aimed at drying up Hitler’s war machine by dumping tons of explosives on the Fischer-Tropsch synthetic oil plant at Sterkrade, about five miles north of Duisburg.

Thirty-three RAF bombers were missing from last night’s operations, described by the Air Ministry as involving a “very strong force.” This indicated about 1,000 planes were used.

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187

King George visits beachhead

London, England (AP) –
King George VI visited the Normandy beachhead yesterday, his trip marking the first time in four centuries that a reigning sovereign of England had set foot on Norman soil to visit his armies fighting there.

King George crossed the Channel on the cruiser HMS Arethusa and landed from an amphibious “duck,” Louis Wulff, Reuters correspondent representing the combined Allied press, said in a dispatch from the warship.

Before he returned safely to an English south coast naval port, the monarch lunched with Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery at advanced headquarters and made Maj. Gen. R. F. L. Keller, a commander of the British Empire. Keller, from Kelowna, British Columbia, is in command of the 3rd Canadian Division.

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188

Editorial: Importance of Cherbourg

Although Nazi generals could not know exactly where the Allies would strike and consequently had to prepare their defenses for hundreds of miles along the northern coast of Europe, there is strong evidence that they did anticipate Gen. Eisenhower’s first major objective. When Allied landings were made in Normandy and American troops began driving westward to cut off the Cherbourg Peninsula, their suspicions were confirmed.

This is the most powerful of Allied operations from the beachhead, with many divisions taking part. When the Cherbourg Peninsula is severed, hundreds of square miles will be added to Allied holdings.

But size of this territory is secondary to the advantage – rather, the necessity – of seizing a port large enough to accommodate the transport requirements of a sustained European campaign. Cherbourg itself must be taken. Then, and then only – barring a successful assault on Le Havre – can Gen. Eisenhower be sure of solving the supply problem.

American troops engaged in this operation are hampered by low terrain which the Nazis have flooded. It is now revealed that the Germans let in the water before D-Day, not afterward, in anticipation of the Allied maneuver. But they did not, perhaps could not, spare enough troops to defend the area effectively. Furthermore, the Americans lost little time in winning control of sluices which are being used to reduce the floods in that area.

When U.S. divisions engaged in the operation succeed in taking Cherbourg, it will be a victory of top importance and will have a positive effect on the future conduct of the entire European campaign.

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189

Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (June 17, 1944)

Special Communiqué No. 1

Since the 6th June, 1944, the Army of the French Forces of the Interior has increased both in size and in the scope of its activities. This army has undertaken a large plan of sabotage which includes in part the paralyzing of rail and road traffic and the interruption of telegraph and telephone communications.

In the majority of cases, their objectives have been attained.

The destruction of railways has been most effective. Bridges have been destroyed, derailment effected and at least 70 locomotives have been sabotaged.

It is reported that both road and rail traffic is completely stopped in the Valley of the RHÔNE.

Canals have not been spared. One has been damaged, one cut and another has been put out of action. Four consecutive locks of another have been destroyed.

Subterranean cables have been cut in many places, and, although some were well defended, they have been attacked and destroyed.

Many acts of sabotage have been carried out against transformer stations.

It is neither possible nor desirable to enumerate all of the many effective acts of destruction which have been carried out. However, these multiple and simultaneous acts of sabotage, coordinated with the Allied air effort, have delayed considerably the movement of German reserves to the combat zone.

Direct action also has been taken against the enemy. The Marquis are reported to have taken 300 prisoners. German garrisons have been attacked. In some areas, villages have been occupied. Street fighting has occurred elsewhere. Enemy detachments have been destroyed.

Guerrilla operations against the enemy are in full swing and in some areas the Army of the French Forces of the Interior are in full control.

At the end of the first week of operations on the shores of FRANCE, the Army of the French Forces of the Interior has, with its British and American comrades, played its assigned role in the Battle of Liberation.

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190

Communiqué No. 24

Allied forces have pushed deeper into NORMANDY. Villages east and west of TILLY-SUR-SEULLES have been freed of the enemy.

Advancing two miles south of ISIGNY, our troops have reached the VIRE ET TAUTE Canal.

In the CHERBOURG peninsula, SAINT-SAUVEUR-LE-VICOMTE has been liberated.

Air operations were sharply curtailed from dawn to midday, when bad whether obscured much of the battle area. Nevertheless, fighter bombers and rocket-firing fighters attacked railway yards, motor convoys and bridges leading to the CHERBOURG peninsula. A convoy of horse-drawn vehicles was destroyed at LA TRAVERSERIE and enemy machine gun nests at FOLLIGNY were strafed. No enemy fighters were encountered during these operations.

Shortly after noon, medium forces of heavy bombers, with fighter escort, attacked seven enemy airfields in southern NORMANDY. Three enemy aircraft were destroyed. Two of our bombers and one fighter are missing.

Other fighters destroyed a railroad bridge across the SOMME Canal.

Early this morning, coastal aircraft attacked enemy shipping in the Channel.

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