The Evening Star (July 4, 1944)
Canadians seize town near Caen
Yanks converging on La Haye from three sides
Action on both ends of Normandy front
Arrows indicate Allied drives at both ends of the French front today, with U.S. troops pushing down the Cherbourg Peninsula to close in on La Haye. At the other end of the front, Canadians captured Carpiquet, three miles west of Caen. (AP)
SHAEF, England (AP) –
The Normandy bridgehead roared into action at both ends at dawn on this American Independence Day, with Canadian troops, capturing Carpiquet, three miles west of Caen, matching the Yanks’ offensive down the Cherbourg Peninsula, which was closing in on La Haye-du-Puits on a 20-mile front.
The Americans drove to within one and three-quarter miles of La Haye.
Field dispatches said the Canadians were fighting at close quarters for the Carpiquet Airfield.
British troops joining the Canadians in the new attack advanced one and a half miles and captured Verson, south of Carpiquet.
The British and Canadians now have advanced about one and a half miles on a two-and-a-half-mile-wide front, headquarters said tonight.
The Canadian attack chopped at the heart of the German defenses about Caen, but there was as yet no indication that Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery had ordered a general all-out offensive on the city.
Called a key to Caen
Canadian Press correspondent Ross Munro in a front dispatch said:
This was the first major Canadian action since mid-June and it was a great achievement to have cracked into Carpiquet. considering it is one of the strongest points on the Caen perimeter and one of the keys to Caen itself.
Mr. Munro wrote:
From a slope in our forward gun lines, I watched the attack as a bed lam of firing shook the front. The guns drummed with a steady rhythm as they beat up the objective, and rocket-firing Typhoons dived like black meteors right on the German positions, blasting them at point-blank range.
"German guns and mortars are hitting the Canadians now. The fighting is far from over and German counterblows against Carpiquet may be expected.”
Converge on La Haye
U.S. columns were converging on La Haye from the north, east and west. One column reached high ground controlling communication arteries two and a half miles from the town.
Today’s German communiqué acknowledged the Allies had made several penetrations on the western wing of the Normandy bridgehead, but claimed most assaults in that area were repelled.*
In many places, the American doughboys fought their way through water waist-deep. Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley’s forces were pushing forward in a rough semicircle from Saint-Lô-d’Ourville to a point near Carentan, a sector roughly 20 airline miles wide.
There were no reports of any advances from Carentan south to Saint-Lô.
The Germans admitted possibly deeper penetrations than the Allies announced officially, the Nazi International Information Service saying in a Berlin broadcast: “During American attacks launched yesterday between Carentan and the west coast of Normandy, German positions were withdrawn several miles at some points.”
Allied Communiqué No. 57 said this morning that heavy rains severely restricted air support.
Until last evening, the American drive had no air support, but then clearing weather allowed fighter-bombers to hit German concentrations in the Lessay area, five miles due south of La Haye.
La Haye appeared the next objective of the drive which Gen. Bradley launched yesterday, a thrust which got under way in the surprisingly short time of a week after the conquest of Cherbourg. Should the Germans lose La Haye, they would be forced back perhaps 10 miles to the next natural defense line along the River Ay, which runs into the sea at Lessay.
The U.S. column closest to the town captured the highest ground in the center of the peninsula near Les Rouland, two and a half miles northeast of La Haye. La Poterie in this section was captured. Other advancing troops reached Saint-Nicolas-de-Pierrepont, three miles to the northwest of La Haye, and still others reached Saint-Rémy-des-Landes, three miles west of La Haye.
Advance from Saint-Jores
U.S. infantry also pushed out an inquiring tenacle from newly-captured Saint-Jores, five miles to the east.
Already the American offensive had pushed into German defenses which Marshal Erwin Rommel himself inspected two months ago and was reported to have pronounced adequate. The advance for the doughboys was prepared by a thundering artillery barrage.
In addition to facing sniper and mortar fire, the American doughboys had to fight through some of the most disagreeable country in France. It is crisscrossed with canals and rivers running through swampy land.
Under torrential rains, only the roads remained above water, aiding the defense. The swamps extend south from La Haye to a line from Saint-Lô to Coutances.
Meanwhile, the Allied Navy disclosed some of the details of the weather in June, the month of the invasion, calling it the worst in 12 years for unloading on the Normandy beaches.
Moderately strong onshore wind which hampers unloading, blew nine days out of the 24 from June 6 to June 30, the 12-year average for the sake period is four days of such wind.
The two worst years for the same period were 1929 and 1933 when the wind blew seven days onshore with moderately strong force.
The German radio reported several clashes between Allied motor boats and a German convoy off the Dutch coast, but these reports lacked confirmation immediately at Supreme Headquarters.
Salvage crews worked at top speed to clear Cherbourg Harbor, which was still being swept by minesweepers. Front dispatches reported there were already several clear beaches at Cherbourg where small craft could unload.
Nazis say Roosevelt will visit France soon
London, England (AP) –
A German Transocean broadcast recorded by Reuters today said President Roosevelt “is expected to arrive at Cherbourg within the next few days” and “will attend the hoisting of an American flag on the citadel of Cherbourg.”
The broadcast said:
Then he will go to Scotland where he will meet Mr. Churchill. The two will then probably proceed to Rome to meet Stalin.
The broadcast was totally without confirmation from Allied sources.