Operation OVERLORD (1944)

388

U.S. fliers lash enemy at Caen

U.S. heavies hammer Vienna oil plants
By Walter Cronkite, United Press staff writer

London, England –
U.S. heavy and medium bombers pounded German troop concentrations and gun batteries at Caen and robot bomb installations in the Pas-de-Calais area today as more than 500 Italy-based Fortresses and Liberators fought their way through heavy flak and fighter opposition to hit oil refineries at Vienna and targets in Hungary.

The fleet of 500 bombers, escorted by Lightnings and Mustangs, struck at three oil refineries in the Vienna basin, three fighter fields covering Vienna, and a Hungarian airdrome at Veszprem, 65 miles southwest of Budapest.

Refineries hit

Among the targets was the Floridsdorf oil refinery in the northern suburbs of Vienna, which is Austria’s largest crude oil distillation plant. The Creditul Minier refinery at Korneuburg, seven miles north of Vienna, and the Fanto Vösendorf refinery six miles south of Vienna, were also hit.

Meanwhile, 8th Fighter Command Mustangs, Thunderbolts and Lightnings stalked the Luftwaffe on airdromes throughout France and dive-bombed railroad targets during the day.

Wreck 21 planes

At least 21 German planes were destroyed on the ground by bombing and strafing fighters.

The Lightning group shot up 11 locomotives, 50 railroad cars and a flak tower. While these attacks were carried out, more than 250 Flying Fortresses and Liberators of the 8th Air Force attacked enemy robot bomb installations in the Pas-de-Calais area, and U.S. medium bombers joined the furious fight for Caen.

Escorted by Thunderbolt fighters, the flying artillery laid a barrage before Caen with the loss of one Marauder from flak. They encountered no enemy aircraft over the immediate battle area.

Stream over straits

The attack in support of ground troops came as Southeast England coastal observers reported a steady procession of heavy and medium bombers crossing the straits toward the continent. Their destination was not known immediately.

RAF heavy bombers just before dawn today laid 2,300 long tons of bombs on the defenders of Caen, and the U.S. mediums continued the pressure by daylight. The tonnage dropped on the embattled Germans in the first eight hours of the offensive was probably already near the 3,000 figure.

Other Marauders during the morning corked two more German transportation bottlenecks. They reached inland to smash one railway bridge at Nogent-le-Roi, which crosses the Eure 70 miles southwest of Paris, and another over the Loire River at Saumur.

Today’s attack on the robot bomb installations near Pas-de-Calais came after it was revealed that Lancaster bombers had smashed one of the enemy’s largest flying bomb supply depots, at Saint-Leu-d’Esserent, near Paris, and that RAF Mosquito bombers hit Berlin and a synthetic oil plant in Germany’s Ruhr Valley with two-ton blockbusters.

Strong forces of Thunderbolts, Mustangs and Lightnings escorted the heavy U.S. bombers as they pounced at least seven bomb sites in northern France. Most of the targets were visible, although some formations encountered bad weather over the area.

Meet strong opposition

The British bombers, which carried out the night raid on robot bomb bases at Saint-Leu-d’Esserent, north of Paris, encountered strong aerial opposition from German fighters and intense ground fire.

Although the individual losses were not listed, the Air Ministry announced that 33 bombers were missing from the raids on Saint-Leu-d’Esserent, the Ruhr and Berlin.

As the weather cleared over the Channel, more than 1,000 planes headed across the coast after hundreds of four-engined Lancasters struck into the outskirts of Paris before dawn in another attack on German communication lines.

Hit railyard

The railyard at Vaires in the eastern outskirts of Paris was singled out by the Lancasters for the pre-dawn operations and returning pilots said the whole target area was covered with thick smoke.

Another RAF contingent hit flying bomb installations in northern France last night, as the Germans continued sending the robot weapons into southern England. Although Allied aerial attacks on the bomb bases have been reported in northern France, the Daily Herald reported the Germans were also launching the pilotless planes from Belgium.

1,100 heavies attack

The U.S. Strategic Air Force disclosed that more than 1,100 Flying Fortresses and Liberators were used in the raids on synthetic oil plants, aircraft factories and other important targets in 11 localities in the Leipzig area yesterday.

The heavy bombs and escorting fighters shot down 114 German planes during the attacks, the largest bag of enemy aircraft since May 19 when 125 were downed over Berlin. The Americans lost 36 bombers and six fighters.

It was announced at Rome that 51 German planes were shot down yesterday by Italian-based heavy bombers and fighters during raids on synthetic oil refineries at Blechhammer and Silesia.

Other Allied planes also hit the railyards at Zagreb, in Yugoslavia, and carried out widespread raids throughout northern Italy. In all the operations yesterday, 24 Allied bombers and three other planes were lost.

389

Nazi general reported arrested

London, England (UP) –
Marshal Karl Gerd von Rundstedt, former commander-in-chief of the German anti-invasion forces in the West, has been placed “under house arrest” at Adolf Hitler’s orders, a Radio Moscow broadcast said today.

Von Rundstedt was recently relieved of his command and was succeeded by Marshal Günther von Kluge.

390

Weather more of problem than enemy in invasion

If D-Day had been delayed two weeks, Allied fleet would have faced disaster
By Edward V. Roberts, United Press staff writer

Allied advanced command post, France – (July 7, delayed)
The weather is still more of a problem to the Allied navies in the invasion operations than enemy activities, a high naval sources indicated today.

He disclosed that if D-Day had been postponed two weeks, which would have been necessary if the June 6 plan had not functioned, Allied initial heavy landings would have been caught in a gale and almost certainly would have faced destruction.

The four-day gale came at a high-tide period and carried some craft so high on the beaches that refloating was a major problem, he said.

Some lost in storm

He revealed that a large number of Thames River barges, equipped with motors, were sent to the beaches for unloading tasks and a few of them were lost in the storm.

He said German naval units were no longer a threat in the invasion area, pointing out that the “Germans have only a few destroyers left. They have had a pretty shattering time.

After D-Day, he said, the Germans made no effort to send naval reinforcements to the Atlantic area, other than E-boats for harassing attacks.

Threat reduced

The torpedo boats have caused some trouble, he acknowledged, but Allied anti-E-boat activities have gradually reduced this threat. However, he stressed the threat was by no means gone, but pointed out that the situation was aided materially by the capture of Cherbourg.

Naval officials expect to have the Cherbourg Harbor, which the Nazis blasted, mined and booby-trapped, in service at an early date.

It was disclosed that repairs to the French port were going forward under the direction of Cdr. William A. Sullivan, naval salvage expert, who reconstructed the ports at Bizerte and Naples.

The project at Cherbourg is “almost 100% American,” the source said, with the British contributing only certain salvage gear.

391

Six Yanks given British medals

Brigadier of 29th Division decorated with DSO

U.S. 1st Army HQ, France (UP) – (July 7)
Over the hill where the guns were rumbling in battle, the sergeant was “otherwise occupied” and unable to be present when Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery pinned high British decorations on the chests of six Americans ranging from sergeant to major general.

But he arrived out of breath at the last minute and a special ceremony was staged in his honor before a battery of news cameras. The sergeant was Asa C. Ricks of Pharr, Texas, and he received the Military Medal of gallantry on D-Day, when he took command of his company after all officers had been killed or wounded, and defended a bridge.

Brigadier gets medal

Gen. Montgomery had already pinned the Military Medal on Sgt. Philip Streczyk of New Brunswick, New Jersey, who received the Distinguished Service Order the other day from Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower for this single-handed capture of a German machine-gun nest, an officer and 21 men on June 6.

Others and their decorations were: Maj. Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor (101st Airborne Division) of Arlington, Virginia, DSO for “fearless leadership” in the river crossing which outflanked Carentan.

A brigadier general of the 29th Infantry Division, DSO for personally leading a division in assault near Vierville.

A colonel, DSO for leading the assault at Vierville-sur-Mer inland beyond the beach under heavy fire.

Others unable to appear

Another colonel, DSO for total disregard of his own safety and calmness in the face of heavy enemy fire near Fréville.

Capt. Sam H. Ball Jr., of Texarkana, Texas, for leadership of a combat engineer battalion which cleared underwater obstacles near Vierville with heavy casualties, DSO.

These also received decorations but were unable to appear for the ceremony: Sgt. Leonard G. Lomell of Point Pleasant, New Jersey (who captured a machine-gun nest on D-Day, Military Medal), Infantry Capt. Richard J. O’Malley (Military Cross for assault on Montebourg) and Sgt. Norman Day (Distinguished Service Medal for great courage in getting vehicles ashore).

392

Vandercook: AEF fears job depression

Returns from invasion area
By Si Steinhauser

Just back from Normandy where he covered the invasion for NBC, John W. Vandercook says:

Our American fighting men are more interested in whether they’ll have a job when they come home than whether they’ll get to vote at the fall election. They have a definite fear of unemployment and another depression.

British soldiers have been greatly liberalized through their contacts with Yanks. They’re going home to change England. The New Deal position is now a British Conservative Party policy while the Labor and Liberal parties are thinking of something further to the left.

Our Americans boys want to come home to the same country they left, just the good old USA with all of the privileges that go with being a real American, including the right to say who’ll be boss in the nation’s capital.

Vandercook said the medical men of the Army are real heroes.

They serve day and night under constant fire, and in Normandy, the Nazis have deliberately fired on them. Because of their loyalty to the wounded, our casualties have a better-than-average chance of medical care within 10 minutes after they are hit and are likely to be in the hands of skilled surgeons within a half hour at the most. Because of fine air cooperation, these wounded can be taken from France to England or America in a matter of hours.

No army has ever had more or better equipment than ours in Italy and France and there have never been armies with such complete confidence. But that does not minimize the morale of our enemy. The German Army’s morale is higher than that of the civilians they left behind. Anti-war spirit in Germany has no leader, so we are still in for a fight.

Our greatest mistake here at home is to minimize the weight and importance of the Italian campaign. It is now facing its decisive test.

393

Völkischer Beobachter (July 9, 1944)

Von der Invasionsfront –
Kampf um ein Schloss

SS-pk. Verwildert und sturmzerzaust liegt das alte normannische Schloss zwischen Park und See. Der uralte Wehrturm ragt steil in die stumme Nacht empor. Er wächst mit seinen kantigen Quadern wie ein Sinnbild des Unvergänglichen zur doppelten Höhe des angebauten Schlosses hinauf.

Von hier oben gleitet der Blick weit über das normannische Flachland hinweg; über das unendliche Netz der- Heckengevierte und Parkwiesen eilt er zu einem flachen Höhenzug, der sich im Osten im Halbkreis um den Schauplatz lagert, in welchem das turmbewehrte Schloss wie im Mittelpunkt einer riesigen Arena liegt.

Wie trügerisch ist dieser tiefe Friede, in den die Sommernacht gebettet zu sein scheint. Die beiden deutschen Posten, die in dieser Einsamkeit auf Wacht stehen und hinter der Kronenrampe des Turms eine Beobachtungsstelle eingerichtet haben, kennen die Tücken des Gegners und lassen deshalb ihre Augen keine Sekunde zur Ruhe kommen. Sie sind das Auge und das Ohr ihrer Batterie, sie sind die treuen Wächter ihrer Kameraden.

Während sich der Sternenhimmel strahlend über dem kleinen Erdenstern wölbt, wird die Stille, die eben noch ewig zu sein schien, mit einem Schlage zerrissen. Zunächst blitzt es in der Ferne an vier Punkten auf, als wolle die Erde den gestirnten Himmel mit reicherem Glanz überbieten. Dann faucht es zischend durch die Luft, das Geräusch wächst den beiden Männern als kreischende Dissonanz rasend schnell entgegen und zerbirst mit Donnerwucht unmittelbar unter ihnen. Einzelne Sprengstücke der feindlichen Granaten pochen knöchern an das Turmgemäuer, als suche der Tod einen Weg durch die dicken Quadern ins Innere zu finden.

Wenige Minuten später rauscht die nächste Salve heran. Eines der Geschosse trifft den Turm und zerbirst krachend an seiner Flanke, so daß die festen Mauern unter dem harten Schlag erbeben und die beiden Männer sich rasch zu Boden kauern. Der Turm hält dem scharfen Schlag zwar stand, doch trägt er eine schwere Wunde davon. Im Mauerwerk klafft ein breites Loch, dessen Steine im nachhallenden Getöse herabrieseln.

Viel verhängnisvoller ist es aber, daß durch den Einschlag die hölzerne Treppe im Innern des Turmes zerstört wurde.

Die beiden Männer tasten vorsichtig in die Bodenluke hinein, wo die suchenden Füße jedoch über abgründiger Leere schweben. Da der Turm auch von außen nicht besteigbar ist, sind die Männer abgeschnitten von aller Welt.

Sie geben trotz allem sofort ihre Funkmeldung über die Trefferlage und das beobachtete feindliche Mündungsfeuer an ihre Batterie durch und warten dann den Morgen ab in der Hoffnung, mit Hilfe des Schlossherrn oder der zur Ablösung anrückenden Kameraden einen Weg über die zerstörte Treppe ins Freie zu finden.

Bald darauf setzt der Feind das Artilleriefeuer in verschärftem Umfang fort. In gewohnter Materialverschwendung schüttet er Salve um Salve gegen die beiden Männer über dem Schloss. Nach einer halben Stunde steigert er seine Feuerkraft nochmals durch den Einsatz von Brandgranaten, durch die es ihm gelingt, einen abseitigen Geräteschuppen in Brand zu schießen. Der Schlossherr, ein greiser Marquis, wird mit seinem Personal durch den Flammenschein aus dem Keller gelockt, um die Zerstörung aufzuhalten. Da, als die Franzosen über das freie Gelände eilen, schlägt eine neue Salve von Granaten in den Park. Die heimtückischen Flammenzungen lecken gierig nach den Gewändern und den unbedeckten Körperteilen der Franzosen. Dann bietet sich das schauerliche Schauspiel dar, daß drei menschliche Gestalten als lebendige Fackeln durch die Nacht geistern – ein grausiges Symbol für den Verrat des Feindes.

Im ersten Morgengrauen zeigt sich die Turmtreppe in ihrem obersten Teil nur so weit zerstört, daß man mit Hilfe einer von unten herangebrachter Leiter die Lücke schließen kann.

Doch fast im gleichen Augenblick, in dem die Männer unter diesem Glücksfall aufzuatmen beginnen, rauscht ein Geschwader feindlicher Flugzeuge heran. Die Zeltbahnen gewähren den beiden Wächtern auf den Zinnen notdürftige Deckung. Obgleich die Tarnungsfarbe mit dem Turmuntergrund nicht übereinstimmen, sind die Männer besten Muts. Die Standhaftigkeit des Turmes gegen den schweren nächtlichen Beschuss bedeutet ihnen auch jetzt ein gutes Omen.

Dann aber, als sie durch die Lochringe der Zeltbahn dem Flug des Feindes folgen, erfaßt sie wirklicher Schrecken; sie sehen, Wie unmittelbar über ihnen der gesamte Pulk der Flugzeuge Fallschirmspringer aussetzt, die als weiße Federwolken am Himmel schweben und deren Landeziel nichts anderes als der Schlosspark bildet.

Es beginnt ein Kampf um Leben und Tod.

Die beiden einsamen Männer auf dem Turm wissen genau, wie gefährlich dieser im Rücken der Front landende Feind für die Kameraden in den vorderen Linien werden kann. Sie wissen aber auch, wie wenig sie allein gegen diese Übermacht auszurichten vermögen, und sie wissen, wie gefährdet ihre eigene Lage ist.

Aber sie handeln sofort. Der eine von ihnen jagt Magazin um Magazin aus seiner Maschinenpistole den Fallschirmjägern entsagen, während der andere, da durch das eigene Feuer die Turmstellung längst verraten wurde, aus mehreren Handgranaten eine geballte Ladung herstellt, und mit ihr die Holztreppe des Turmes bis in die Tiefe hinein zerstört, um dem Gegner die Angriffsmöglichkeit zu erschweren.

So kämpfen zwei Männer gegen mehr als zweihundert Gegner einen ungleichen Kampf, sie kämpfen in ihrer Einsamkeit auf hoffnungslos verlorenem Posten.

Elf feindliche Fallschirmjäger konnten bereits vor der Landung ausgeschaltet werden, etwa zwanzig weitere fallen alsbald durch Garben der Maschinenpistolen und durch Handgranaten in der näheren Umgebung des Schlosses.

Damit aber haben die beiden Männer alles getan, was sie tun konnten. Sie besitzen keinen Schuss Munition und keine Handgranaten mehr. Sie müssen zusehen, wie sich die gelandeten Feindtruppen formieren und zum Sturmangriff gegen den Turm ansetzen.

Zunächst wird ein regelrechter Spähtrupp eingesetzt, der, von Busch zu Busch vorspringend, den Schlosseingang gewinnt und dann durch das Innere des Schlosses in den Sockel des Turmes vorstößt. Von dort aus geht es die Treppe empor – allein der Angriff muß dort, wo die Treppe aufhört, kläglich abgebrochen werden.

Ein schwerer Granatwerfer wird in Stellung gebracht. Die erste Granate, die in steilem Flug die beiden Männer auf dem Turm erledigen soll, verfehlt ihr Ziel, fällt zur Erde zurück und verletzt mehrere Männer aus des Feindes eigenen Reihen.

Als damit auch dieses Unternehmen fehlgeschlagen ist, beginnt der Feind mit der Ausräucherung der beiden Deutschen vom Innern des Turmes her.

Er legt Sprengladung um Sprengladung in die Fundamente, in immer stärkeren Explosionen wankt das Gefüge der Quader.

Schon sind aus dem Sockel an zwei Seiten die Grundsteine herausgeflogen, schon hat sich der uralte Turm ein wenig zur Seite geneigt, schon lodern die Flammen prasselnd in den Trümmern der trockenen Holztreppe auf und senden einen erstickenden Qualm, mit Pulvergasen vermischt, in die Höhe – da, als niemand mehr auch nur den geringsten Preis auf das Leben der beiden deutschen Beobachter gesetzt hätte, begeben sich diese an ihr Funkgerät und setzen mit abgemessenen Takten einen Funkspruch an ihre Batterie ab, der bei der Gegenstelle wahrhaftes Grausen verursacht und aus den Worten besteht:

Sofortiges stärkstes Zielfeuer auf eigenen Standpunkt!

Das Feuer springt bald darauf in wilden Sätzen durch die frühe Morgenluft, es schlägt hart und unerbittlich in die Reihen der Fallschirmjäger, es folgt dem Gegner in alle Deckungen, die er sucht, in alle Gräben und Hohlwege, in denen er sich verbirgt, es zerstampft den Granatwerfer zu einem korkenzieherartigen Gebilde, es stürzt sich auf die kleinsten Gruppen des ziellos umherirrenden Feindes. Nie wurde von einem Beobachtungsstand eine zielsichere Feuerleitung gegeben als von diesem Turm aus, da die einzelnen Schüsse fast um Meterbreite auf jeden einzelnen Gegner herangelenkt werden können. Weder der Beobachter noch der Funker lassen sich jetzt, da ihre Schicksalsstunde gekommen ist, durch den beizenden Brodem beirren, der durch die Luke aus dem Turminnern herausfegt, sie achten auch nicht auf die Sprengstücke, die ihnen an den Köpfen vorbeizischen, sie sehen nur die Aufgabe, den Feind mit dem von ihnen gesteuerten Granatensturm zu vernichten.

Und es gelingt ihnen in solch vollkommener Weise, daß der deutsche Stoßtrupp, der eine Stunde später durch das Gelände kommt, fast spielend den letzten Widerstand bricht, der ihnen noch aus einzelnen feindlichen Schützennestern entgegentritt.

Als es ihnen danach in mühevoller Pionierarbeit gelingt, vom Dachfirst des Schlossgebäudes aus mittels Kletterhaken und Stufeneinschlägen die Zinnenkrone des Turmes zu erklettern, erlösen sie zwei halbbetäubte, rauchgeschwärzte Männer, die dort oben im Angesicht des Todes unerschrocken Wacht hielten.

SS-Kriegsberichter Dr. RUPERT RUPP

394

Führer HQ (July 9, 1944)

Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt:

In der Normandie trat der Feind nun auch gegen den vorspringenden Frontabschnitt nördlich Caen auf breiter Front mit starken Infanterie- und Panzerkräften zum Großangriff an. In den schweren Kämpfen, die im Laufe des Tages immer mehr an Heftigkeit Zunahmen, hatte der Gegner besonders hohe blutige Verluste. Es gelang ihm schließlich, nach Einsatz neuer Kräfte, nordöstlich und nordwestlich Caen in unsere Stellungen einzudringen. Auch beiderseits der Straße Caumont–Caen führte der Feind nach heftiger Feuervorbereitung starke Angriffe, in denen er örtliche, inzwischen abgeriegelte Einbrüche erzielen konnte.

Zwischen Vire und Taute wurde während des ganzen Tages erbittert gekämpft. Unter schweren Verlusten gelang es dem Feind, hier seinen Brückenkopf über die Vire nach Südwesten etwas zu erweitern. Die Kämpfe sind auch hier noch in vollem Gange. Nordwestlich Le Plessis und südwestlich La Haye-du-Puits griff der Gegner wiederholt vergeblich an.

Im französischen Raum wurden 198 Terroristen im Kampf niedergemacht.

Durch Kampfmittel der Kriegsmarine wurden im Seegebiet der Invasionsfront wiederum ein Kreuzer und ein Zerstörer versenkt sowie mehrere weitere Schiffe torpediert. Ein feindliches Flugzeug wurde abgeschossen.

Schweres Vergeltungsfeuer liegt weiterhin auf London und seinen Außenbezirken.

In Italien setzte der Feind seine Angriffe mit besonderer Wucht an der ligurischen Küste bei Volterra, nordwestlich Siena und an der adriatischen Küste fort. Er wurde jedoch nach schwersten Kämpfen bis auf geringe örtliche Einbrüche verlustreich abgewiesen.

In den harten Abwehrkämpfen der letzten Woche im westlichen Küstenabschnitt hat sich eine in ihrer Mehrheit aus turkestanischen Freiwilligen bestehende Infanteriedivision mit ihrem deutschen Rahmenpersonal hervorragend bewährt.

Im Osten nahm im Raum von Kowel die Wucht der feindlichen Angriffe zu. Die von zahlreichen Panzern und Schlachtfliegern unterstützten Durchbruchsversuche wurden unter Abschuß einer größeren Anzahl feindlicher Panzer vereitelt.

Im Mittelabschnitt der Ostfront hat sich die Abwehrschlacht in den Raum westlich der Landengen von Baranowicze und Molodeczno verlagert. Beiderseits Baranowicze setzten unsere Truppen den mit überlegenen Infanterie- und Panzerkräften angreifenden Sowjets zähen Widerstand entgegen. Im Verlauf hartnäckiger Kämpfe um Lida ging der Ort verloren.

Die Besatzung von Wilna wies wiederholte von Panzern unterstützte Angriffe der Bolschewisten ab. Nordwestlich Wilna wurden vordringende feindliche Kräfte aufgefangen.

An der Front zwischen Dünaburg und Polozk führte der Feind infolge der an den Vortagen erlittenen hohen Verlusten nur örtliche Angriffe, die abgewiesen wurden.

Bei den Kämpfen der letzten Tage im Abschnitt des Narocz-Sees hat sich das Heerespionierbataillon (mot.) 505 unter Führung von Hauptmann Wolf durch besondere Tapferkeit ausgezeichnet.

In der vergangenen Nacht belegten deutsche Kampfgeschwader die Bahnhöfe Korosten, Sarny, Rowno und Olewsk mit zahlreichen Spreng- und Brandbomben.

Ein starker nordamerikanischer Bomberverband griff gestern Vormittag Außenbezirke der Stadt Wien an. Es entstanden Gebäudeschäden und Personenverluste. Deutsche und ungarische Luftverteidigungskräfte vernichteten 30 feindliche Flugzeuge, darunter 26 viermotorige Bomber.

In der Nacht warfen einzelne britische Flugzeuge Bomben im rheinisch-westfälischen Gebiet.

Unterseeboote versenkten zwei Schiffe mit 11.000 BRT.

395

Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (July 9, 1944)

Communiqué No. 67

The attack on CAEN continues, with our infantry making steady progress covered by heavy artillery and air support. Every house and farm has been made into a center of resistance which is defended stubbornly.

On the west, further gains have been made on both sides of LA HAYE-DU-PUITS. Allied forces have advanced two miles southwest of SAINT-JEAN-DE-DAYE.

Our fighters and fighter bombers ranged from the LOIRE to the channel, and from PARIS to NANTES, attacking enemy transportation. Tracks were severed on the main rail lines from PARIS to both LE HAVRE and ORLÉANS. More than 150 railroad cars were destroyed. Near ÉVREUX, direct hits were registered on the mouth of a rail tunnel.

Small formations of heavy day bombers struck at railway chokepoints at ÉTAPLES, junctions at L’AIGLE and the MANTES-GASSICOURT bridge, while medium and light aircraft hit a large railway bridge at NANTES.

Normandy-based aircraft, in close support of our troops, attacked earthwork fortifications and gun and mortar positions before our lines. Others strafed troops moving by rail towards the front and destroyed three tanks and other military vehicles.

During yesterday, 24 enemy aircraft were destroyed on the ground and six in the air. Our losses were 12 heavy bombers and five fighters.

396

The Pittsburgh Press (July 9, 1944)

NAZIS BEGIN CAEN WITHDRAWAL
Berlin hints at retreat as British forces drive near heart of port

Americans pierce German front in center, push into La Haye for fourth time
By Phil Ault, United Press staff writer

map.070944.up
As the British drove forward into Caen and a decisive battle raged, the Nazi began withdrawing some forces from Caen indicating they were ready to evacuate that port (1). U.S. forces cut a hole in the center of the Nazi front (2) with the capture of Saint-Jean-de-Daye and drove near Pont-Hébert. U.S. forces again drove into La Haye-du-Puits and made new advances along both sides of that road junction (3).

SHAEF, London, England –
British troops smashed into Caen Saturday, sweeping through 12 suburban forts in a juggernaut offensive to within half a mile of the center of the city, and Berlin hinted that the Germans were abandoning the burned and battered bastion on the road to Paris.

Official Allied advices said that German big guns and tanks were on the move along the last two available roads out of Caen under fire of British and Canadian forces that had severed 12 highways serving the road center, indicating that evacuation of the city had begun.

Patrols may already have penetrated the inner city, and it appeared that Gen. Sir B. L. Montgomery’s British 2nd Army had met and mastered the main German force facing the French beachhead in a battle that may go down as one of the decisive actions of the war.

Yanks back in La Haye

U.S. troops at their end of the 120-mile offensive front swept into La Haye-du-Puits for the fourth time and on their east flank captured Saint-Jean-de-Daye, drilling a deep hole near the center of the German front.

Hundreds of German prisoners were taken as the British hacked through stone villages in Caen’s western, northern and northeastern outskirts where German resistance, fierce when the attack started before dawn, wilted late in the day under the overpowering assaults.

German heavy guns and tanks, it was indicated, were withdrawing to a new line below Caen and the Berlin radio, pessimistic throughout the day on the battle for the city, said last night that “it is not improbable we may shorten our lines by withdrawing them beyond Caen.”

Caen big as Cherbourg

Caen, with a population of 50,000, is as big as Cherbourg and ranks as France’s seventh port. It lies nine miles from the sea but has a large floating basin and huge docking space with outlets to the coast through the Orne River and Canal.

The 11:30 p.m. Allied communiqué reported steady gains were made Saturday on all active portions of the front, with the Americans back in La Haye and holding all high ground in the area.

After capturing Saint-Jean seven miles southeast of Carentan, the Yanks linked two spearheads in the central sector and plunged on south toward important Pont-Hébert through a hail of fire from 88mm and rocket shells, leaving the enemy’s main forts behind.

May change war’s course

But the flaming focal point of the entire battle area was Caen, where the British were slashing away at the buckle of the German front in fighting which an official commentator said might change the course of the war.

If Field Marshal Erwin Rommel’s main armored forces can be smashed in the present battle, the 120 miles to Paris may be covered far more swiftly than has been anticipated, it was said.

Late dispatches from the front said Canadian anti-tank gunners knocked out 17 German tanks yesterday. They reported the battle was largely an infantry and artillery operation and that the first thrust had cracked most of the strong ring of German defenses around Caen.

Attack on 7-mile front

The Tommies attacked on a seven-mile front running from southwest to north of Caen at Gen. Sir B. L. Montgomery’s favorite hour – about 4:30 a.m. under a waning room. More than 450 RAF heavy bombers and additional U.S. mediums had softened up the German defenses with almost 3,000 tons of bombs in high-precision attacks beginning at dusk Friday.

Just before the troops moved forward, hundreds of massed guns flashed through the blackness in a famous “Monty barrage.”

The British leaped to the attack from points little more than two miles from the heart of Caen in positions they had held since D-Day, but those last few thousand yards, bristling with fortifications, were as tough as any encountered by Gen. Montgomery’s veteran desert warriors.

The Germans fought back stubbornly, but late in the day the British had pushed froward their front from 2,500 yards to two miles, reaching within half a mile of the heart of the city at some points, front dispatches said.

Huge casualties reported

Captured in the advance were 12 fortified villages, including Galamanche (three miles north-northwest of Caen), La Bijude and Lébisey (both two miles north-northeast), Couvre-Chef (one-and-a-half miles north), Hérouville (two miles northeast), Épron (three miles north) and Buron and Gruchy (both three miles northwest). The closest approach to the center of Caen was believed from the Couvre-Chef direction, where a British spearhead reported well south of that station on the railroad to the coast.

Huge casualties were reported being inflicted on the Germans as the 2nd Army smashed forward with every type of arms including flamethrowers and flail tanks which acted as land-going minesweepers. Spokesmen cautioned that their own losses may prove severe.

Yanks back on offensive

Front dispatches said that the Yanks went back to the offensive along almost the full 40 miles of the western sector after a night-long barrage, scoring most heavily in the Saint-Jean-de-Daye sector.

Saint-Jean was occupied almost without resistance after the Yanks crashed in heavy force across the Vire River and the Vire-Taute Canal leading into it and joined forces in a surge toward Pont-Hébert, four and a half miles farther south.

Under the power and consistency of the American attacks, German resistance seemed to be wavering, a front dispatch from Henry T. Gorrell said, but was still well organized.

Gradually advancing

The Germans were still matching the Yanks almost blow for blow farther west, but Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley’s troops were gradually if not spectacularly forcing their way to the open country inland from the Cherbourg Peninsula.

On the coastal side of La Haye, they swept through Biémont, two and a half miles southwest, and drove on toward the estuary of the Ay River, where the sheltered harbor of Saint-Germain possessed landing facilities of some importance.

The Yanks cleaned out the entire western side of the Mont-Castre forest east of La Haye.

Five miles from Périers

Farther inland, the doughboys were only five miles from the junction of Périers at two points: near Le Plessis on the main road in from the north and in the Sainteny sector on the Carentan road from the northeast.

The Germans, although hard put to do it, were still reinforcing the American sector.

An Allied commentator, asked to describe the situation in La Haye, said:

It can’t be said that the city is fully liberated although the mayor holds in his hands a speech of welcome which he hopes to deliver shortly to American troops.

397

Dr. Goebbels: Germans warned of ‘grave danger’

‘May not fight again for 10 to 50 years’

London, England – (July 8)
Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels told the German people today that the Reich is in “grave danger” and that if it is destroyed, Germany “will not have a chance to repeat this struggle for another 10, 20 or 50 years,” the DNB News Agency reported.

Goebbels’ warning, coming almost immediately after Adolf Hitler’s admission to German industrialists that the Reich’s industries were being far outstripped by the Allies, was directed to a mass meeting of 200,000 Germans at an unidentified town “in the east” and broadcast for German consumption.

Warns of nation’s fate

In an apparent attempt to frighten the German people into working and fighting with the energy of desperation, Goebbels said:

Our enemies have made it cynically clear what fate awaits the nation in the event of the defeat they hope and strain for.

Our enemies will not be satisfied with destroying our industries, paralyzing our economic life, transporting our soldiers and workers to Siberia and slashing our country to pieces.

No, they wish on their own testimony to destroy the German nation in its national substance.

‘Still chance for victory’

“Every single German must now act as though his life is in danger,” he said.

Despite the deepening crisis, Goebbels told the Germans they “still hold all chances of victory in our hands,” asserting that the Allies face growing difficulties, too.

Goebbels said the real decisive fighting was still to come. He said:

At Cherbourg, German troops not only fought to the last cartridge but to the last drop of blood, showing that the word capitulation did not exist in their vocabulary.

398

He would have died, but –
19 quarts of blood, plasma poured into wounded Yank

Liver ruptured, spleen shattered and stomach perforated, now he’s recovering
By Thomas R. Henry, North American Newspaper Alliance

With U.S. forces in France – (July 5, delayed)
The body of an American soldier was completely refilled with blood – five quarts – to save his life in the course of a two-hour operation.

His liver had been ruptured, his spleen shattered and his stomach perforated from a shell explosion, all of them probably fatal wounds. He is now recovering.

This operation was part of a 60-hour ordeal for Maj. Stewart Welsh, a surgeon from Albany Medical College, who operated on wounded soldiers for this entire period with only a three-hour fitful nap, on the Cherbourg front.

Gets 14 quarts of plasma

The soldiers arrived in a state of shock. Two quarts of fresh blood were given at once to revive him to stand the surgery. This blood is donated by English civilians, flown to France daily, and delivered to every U.S. hospital base here in a big refrigerator van, touring the front continuously. The same van delivers penicillin supplies so there is no shortage possible.

During the operation, the man was given a third quart and immediately afterward two more quarts. The normal human body – no matter what the weight – contains five quarts. In addition, during and after the operation, the soldier got 14 quarts of blood plasma to counteract the shock. When he reached the operating table, Maj. Welsh had little hope that he would survive. Great quantities of blood had been lost from the liver wound. But the soldier rallied rapidly at the evacuation hospital commanded by Col. Paul Hayes of Washington.

Handles 3,000 cases

In the last two days, 185 cases of major surgery have been performed by the 32 surgeons under Maj. Welsh. Minor surgery, such as setting scores of arms and legs, is not mentioned. The surgeons work in two-men teams in 12-hour shifts, never stopping. Then they spend four hours preparing for the next shift. Brain and jaw injuries are the most frequent because the lower part of the body is protected in the small-arms fighting which is taking place behind shoulder-high garden walls along the roads.

This single hospital has handled nearly 3,000 cases since the campaign started. It is now aided by American surgical teams of specialists, moving from hospital to hospital as the burden mounts.

Although the total replacement of blood in two hours is unique, the same surgeons have had other cases which have been refilled five times – five quarts each time – in a week. This blood is burned up by gas gangrene, but the men now being evacuated are recovering.

Important experiments are underway here with a combination of penicillin and sulfadiazine on gangrene, formerly one of war’s worst scourges, but now often successfully combatted by sulfa drugs. Every victim is given a full dose of both drugs. Preliminary indications show synergic action, that is, one increasing the effect of the other.

399

Quick medical attention saves many Yank lives

Ample supplies and early evacuation of wounded keep casualty lists down

Washington (UP) – (July 8)
Ample medical supplies and attention and quick evacuation saved the lives of many wounded American soldiers on the Normandy beachhead, the War Department disclosed tonight.

A report by Maj. Gen. Paul R. Hawley, chief surgeon of the European Theater of Operations, to Army Surgeon General Norman T. Kirk, told the story of rapid aid to the wounded.

Gen. Hawley said the 9th Air Force “got in there fast after D-Day” and was carrying out air evacuation of wounded to England three days after the invasion. Many wounded were flown back within an hour after reaching evacuation points behind the lines. Few waited at these points more than 12 hours.

Few arrive in shock

The flight to the United Kingdom was about an hour. Ambulances quickly transferred the patients to hospitals nearby. Air has now supplanted almost all other types of evacuation.

Field hospital platoons were used as holding hospitals at airstrips and beaches for those sent to the United Kingdom.

Gen. Hawley wrote:

The condition of the casualties on arrival in the United Kingdom has been surprisingly fine. Fractures have been well splinted. Shock has been treated on the LSTs (Landing Ship, Tanks) and hospital carriers, and it is a rare patient who arrives in shock.

Both whole blood and plasma have been plentiful in every medical installation from the clearing station to the hospital. There has been enough penicillin to treat all the cases that required it and the freedom of wounds from infection has been a source of surprise to all of our surgeons.

Supply called superb

Gen. Hawley described the medical supply as “superb.” He said he found no hospital or station in France without ample quantities.

Many American soldiers owe their lives to surgeons aboard LST boats on D-Day, Gen. Hawley wrote. The Army placed an experienced surgeon on each craft. In addition, there were two young naval medical officers and about 20 hospital corpsmen.

Reception of wounded in Britain went smoothly. Specially trained Negro litter bearers handled casualties gently.

400

4,000 planes batter Nazis around Caen

1,000 hit oil plants in Austria, Hungary
By Walter Cronkite, United Press staff writer

SHAEF, London, England –
More than 4,000 Allied planes roared over the flaming Norman battlefields yesterday and laid a shattering barrage across the German frontlines around Caen, while a mighty sky fleet of well over 1,000 Italian-based raiders bombed Nazi oil refineries and airfields in Austria and Hungary.

Headquarters announced that the overall number of sorties would total more than 4,000, including 1,200 flown from Normandy airfields in close support of U.S. and British ground attacks.

Wireless station set afire

Headquarters announced that Normandy-based fighters shot down two German planes against a loss of one. Meanwhile, Spitfires of the air defenses of Great Britain set fire to a wireless station at Combourg, 20 miles southeast of Saint-Malo, and strafed various targets from Brittany to Laon.

Wave upon wave of U.S. Marauders thundered over the heads of the charging British troops throughout the morning, splattering their bombloads upon enemy gun batteries and strongpoints in the Caen sector, many of which were still smoldering from a savage, 2,500-ton night bombardment by the RAF’s heavyweights.

Thunderbolt fighters covered the Marauders and raked the enemy lines with machine-gun and cannon fire. Nearly 100 Thunderbolt fighter-bombers, attacking from treetop height walked their bombs across German defenses. Not a single German plane attempted to interfere with the raid, and the Nazis threw up only a feeble anti-aircraft barrage that caught one Marauder.

Smash rail bridge

Simultaneously, other Marauder formations reached inland to smash a railway bridge across the Eure River at Nogent-le-Roi, 70 miles southwest of Paris, and another across the Loire at Saumur.

At midafternoon, another force of thunderbolts and Lightnings bombed the network of railway lines feeding into the battle area, hitting 40 points between La Chapelle and Combourg, between Craon and Laval, and in the neighborhood of Rennes and Alençon.

The Nazi robot bomb bases along the Pas-de-Calais area were attacked by medium-sized forces of U.S. 8th Air Force Liberators and Flying Fortresses.

Swarms of U.S. fighters covered the four-engined giants and, meeting no enemy opposition in the air, they fanned out over northern France to bomb and strafe targets of opportunity on the ground.

Wreck 20 planes

One Mustang formation commanded by Col. William J. “Wild Bill” Cummings Jr. of Lawrence, Kansas, and led today by Maj. Henry B. Kucheman Jr. of Richmond, Virginia, flushed a secret German airdrome in a forest southeast of Paris. Twenty enemy planes were destroyed on the ground at Dreux Airfield, south of Paris. Another Lightning fighter group shot up 11 locomotives, 50 freight cars and a flak tower, all without meeting a single enemy fighter. German anti-aircraft gunners, however, shot down 10 heavy bombers and one fighter.

Between 500 and 750 Flying Fortresses and Liberators, accompanied by probably as many fighters, swarmed up from their Italian bases to join in the assault on Axis Europe, blasting three oil refineries and three airfields in the Vienna area and another airdrome at Veszprém, 65 miles southwest of Budapest.

Returning crewmen said only weak enemy fighter opposition was encountered over Vienna, where the bombers touched off huge fires and explosions in the Floridsdorf Creditul Minier and Fanto Vösendorf refineries. The Floridsdorf refinery, in the northern suburbs of Vienna, is Austria’s largest crude oil distillation plant.

Blast airfields

Widespread damage was also inflicted on the nearby Zwölfaxing Markersdorf and Münchendorf airfields, all fighter bases covering Vienna, and on the Hungarian field.

The RAF was out in force last night, hurling 450 four-engined Lancasters and Halifaxes into a 2,500-ton raid on the German battlelines at Caen, while other raiding formations hit enemy communications lines in northern France and a force of Mosquito borders stabbed at Berlin. Other warplanes ranged over in France, Belgium and Holland on intruder patrols, shooting down at least nine enemy planes.

Thirty-three British planes were lost in the night operations.

401

MacGowan: Few Norman girls found married to Nazi soldiers

Majority of French women await return of countrymen; others ostracized
By Gault MacGowan, North American Newspaper Alliance

Colombières, Normandy, France – (July 8)
The name of this place means dovecots in English, and the little church of the village has a popular matrimonial altar. But you will search in vain for records of weddings between Nazi soldiers and French girls.

An aged parish priest told me today:

We have had no weddings of that kind here or in any of our parishes. Civil weddings may have taken place, but I haven’t heard of any. There were some clandestine liaisons, of course, but none solemnized by the church. No self-respecting girl would have anything to do with the Germans.

I have been checking up on reports of French girls’ retreating with the Germans and on the invasion-day stories of French girls as snipers and roof-spotters, and have learned that those who became such collaborationists were few indeed. The priest’s story of Colombières is true, I feel sure, for most communities in Normandy. Tradition is strong in this region, and family life is even stronger. There is no sympathy for the scarlet woman.

Spoke to ‘pink sister’

I spoke to one pink sister today, discovering her hue only after I asked her opinion of why the Germans did not invade England in 1940 and she flashed back so aptly with her reply.

“Why should they?” she said. “They had everything they wanted here – wine, women and the best of cooking.”

In justice to French women in general, I should make clear that I have asked the same question of many others, and they have given me quite different answers.

It must be admitted that there has been a definite psychological problem involved with the occupation army. Young Frenchwomen, with their own young men far from them and only old men or comparative weaklings to choose from, could not keep from glancing occasionally at healthy, young German soldiers, looking very difference from the caricatures of them circulated before the fall of France. Not all were the strictly Nazi types. Large numbers of Saxons, Bavarians and Austrians. Some had been educated at the Sorbonne or in England or America. They spoke French well and their manners were cosmopolitan.

Germans frowned on unions

These more attractive ones were pushed forward in the early campaign to implant Hitler’s ideology in France. Parties, tennis and other games were organized for collaboration families; and it was difficult to refuse all German invitations without causing reprisals.

If any weddings resulted – genuine weddings – they took place in Paris or somewhere else far from local cognizance. Any weddings learned of here would have caused social ostracism. The girls involved would have been compelled by the pressure of public opinion to leave their families and go to Germany. Another side of the truth is that the Germans themselves frowned on such unions in their customary insistence on “racial purity.”

The comparatively few women of Normandy who lived openly with the Germans are targets of the scorn of their countrymen or are described bluntly as members of the world’s oldest profession. Norman instincts are too courteous to sanction dealing with them as the Corsicans did when I was there ands saw such women returned to their homes after camp life with the Nazis. Guerrilla patriots had cut off their hair and stripped them naked. Then they marched them to the top of the village street and turned them loose.

For four years, the great majority of Frenchwomen have drawn themselves into shells. they don’t come out easily even to greet the young men of the Allies. The German occupation of their country has made them more nationalistic than ever. They are reserving their welcomes for their imprisoned sweethearts and for those who come back with the Fighting French.

Shapiro: David Niven plays real war role as a British officer in France

Normandy version like Hollywood’s; Yanks see him, turn autograph hounds
By L. S. B. Shapiro, North American Newspaper Alliance

With U.S. forces in Normandy, France – (July 8)
Every movie fan knows how David Niven looks in the role of a British officer fighting in France.

As a Hollywood actor, he played the part od a British officer in the 1914-18 war at least a dozen times. His realistic performance as Errol Flynn’s fighting pal in the picture Dawn Patrol sent him to stardom.

Niven looks no different as the real thing. He is a British officer on this Normandy bridgehead and is temporarily attached to a U.S. formation headquarters as British liaison officer.

I met him yesterday, and except for the fact that he is wearing battledress instead of the service dress uniforms officers wore in World War I. He is a same David Niven you’ve seen in so many Flanders pictures.

He was natty, his eyes had the same old twinkle and his grin had that quality of mischievous charm which made him so great a film favorite.

“I was honestly laughing with tears in my eyes when I landed in France the other day,” he said, chuckling.

We had a rough passage. You know how the Channel can be – and I was pretty shaky on my pins when I came ashore and dreadfully ill.

There were a lot of American troops working on the beach and the first thing I know they were rushing at me with bits of paper and pencils. I was awfully sick but I had to laugh. It was all too funny – and it is when you come to think of it. Here we are in the biggest, most dramatic operation of the war, and what happens? Autograph hounds!

As though to emphasize the truth of Niven’s dilemma, some British troops moving up to the front paused as they passed our roadside rendezvous and gave the movie star what is known in Hollywood as “the double take.” They looked curiously at first, as though searching their memories, then gave him a wide stare and a wave of the hand.

He looked up and down the muddy road filled with transport trucks and troops against the background of a shattered French village.

“It doesn’t look too different from a Hollywood set, what?” He remarked. Then Officer Niven climbed into a jeep and moved toward the battlefront.

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402

On Normandy front –
Hard-pressed Nazis use salvaged guns

On the U.S. 1st Army front, Normandy, France – (July 8)
The war on this complicated front started inching its way southward again this morning after a night of reorganization and another artillery earthquake. Movement was slowest in the west, more where new gun mobilizations have failed to compensate Heinie for having been caught out at the Aire crossing.

Troops that went in on the extreme left yesterday morning had reached a point 500 yards south of Saint-Jean-de-Daye during the night and were still advancing. The second spearhead in this attack, which cut across the Vire et Taute Canal during the afternoon, had cleared the marshes and was beating back the Germans successfully on dry ground beyond.

Queer artillery

Thanks to the murderous terrain, Heinie has been able to put up a good defensive fight, but in the eastern sector his luck at the moment seems to have run out. His artillery continued to plaster roads and battery positions with plenty of force, but to the disinterested observer, it looked like queer artillery.

It doesn’t make much difference to you, as you try to make yourself flatten in a mud puddle, whether the incoming shells are of orthodox caliber or not, but you begin to take notice when whizbangs and slow-moving crumps arrive in the same spot almost simultaneously. That just isn’t the way to fire artillery if you can help yourself.

It has been known for some time that the Germans all along the front, have been throwing in guns only recently salvaged from the junkpiles of 1939 and 1940 – Polish and Czech field pieces, Russian howitzers and French 75s and railway guns, not to mention exotic varieties of off-size British cannon abandoned before Dunkerque – and here’s proof of it, as a U.S. artillery major sharing my frontline mud puddle pointed out.

“If he [the enemy] gets away with this, he’s a Chinese magician,” the major said. He pulled his head down while two more Heinie shells came blasting into a hedge, one with a boom, the other with a flat crack.

Real supply problem

He said:

That’s it. This is a fine place to find out what every kind of shell in the world sounds like. He’s using them all. Think what is going on up there in his artillery positions. He has everybody’s guns up there but you can see for yourself that he hadn’t got very many of any one kind in any one place.

Tentatively, I guess it will be some 75s and a couple of 25-pounders and about half a dozen 12-inchers. And that’s no kidding. He must be getting down pretty close to the bottom of the barrel.

403

Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (July 9, 1944)

Communiqué No. 68

The town of CAEN has been liberated. Many pockets of enemy resistance remain but these are being systematically dealt with.

Local gains have been made in the ODON bridgehead and in the CAUMONT-TILLY sector.

In the base of the CHERBOURG Peninsula, German resistance in LA HAYE-DU-PUITS was crushed after the town had been bypassed on both sides.

Some ground has also been gained towards SAINTENY although enemy resistance is intense in both this area and beyond SAINT-JEAN-DE-DAYE.

Heavy bombers attacked the airfield at CHÂTEAUDUN and bridges in the TOURS area this morning. Escorting fighters shot down one enemy aircraft, and bombed and strafed ground targets including locomotives, rolling stock and motor transport.

Medium bombers, one of which is missing, attacked a fuel dump at RENNES and a road bridge south of ORLÉANS. They were escorted by fighters which also bombed gun positions south of RENNES and near SAINT-MALO.

Naval patrols made contact with groups of enemy E-boats off the mouth of the SEINE early on Saturday morning. During the actions which followed, two enemy E-boats were severely damaged and one was set on fire before the enemy escaped into LE HAVRE.

Early this morning, destroyers on patrol sighted and chased a force of five armed trawlers off CAP FRÉHEL. The enemy force escaped inshore under shelter of shore batteries, but not before they had received serious punishment.

404

Völkischer Beobachter (July 10, 1944)

Zerstörte Träume

Über die Wege in der Normandie ziehen die Flüchtlinge. Was sie mit Mühe und Not haben retten können aus den Trümmern ihrer Häuser, bergen sie in ihrem wenigen Gepäck. Ganz außer Fassung, viele die maßlose Angst vor den niedersausenden Bomben noch in den Augen, gehen sie gejagt ihren Weg.

Ihre Dörfer und Städte lagen weit hinter der Front. Aber plötzlich, an einem sonnenklaren Sommernachmittag, dröhnten die Verbände mit den Kreisen auf den Flügeln dunkel und drohend über die engen Straßen und pittoresken Plätze. Innerhalb einer Viertelstunde war das Städtchen eine Hölle von Rauch und Feuer. Wer noch den Keller hatte erreichen können, erstickte unter den niederstürzenden Trümmern. Nur die konnten sich retten, die ins freie Feld geflohen waren.

Jetzt ziehen sie auf den normannischen Wegen. Aber noch nimmt ihr Elend kein Ende. Bei einer Kurve, als das Gebüsch aufhört und man über die wogenden Roggenfelder eine freie Sicht hat, kommen britische Jäger in geringer Höhe über die traurige Kolonne. Wütend funken die Bordwaffen. Kinden beginnen zu weinen, Frauen schreien und rennen nach dem schützenden Gebüsch zurück.

Zitternd vor Angst und Entsetzen suchen sie, nachdem die Flieger verschwunden sind, nochmals die Reste des Hausgeräts. Sie haben nicht die Kraft, weiterzugehen, ein paar hundert Meter weiter kann ihnen dasselbe passieren. Vollkommen zerschlagen bleiben sie am Rande des Weges sitzen. Ihr Blick sucht nervös den Himmel ab. Kommen sie da schon wieder?

Es ist eine Welle von unsagbarem Leid über die Normandie gekommen. Sie hat alle schönen Träume von einer „schnellen, schmerzlosen Befreiung“ auf grausamste Weise zerstört.

NSK.

405

Innsbrucker Nachrichten (July 10, 1944)

Erbitterte Straßen- und Häuserkämpfe in Caen

Missglückte feindliche Durchbruchsversuche in Italien – Wilna gegen zahlreiche Angriffe behauptet – Zwei britische Schnellboote versenkt

dnb. Aus dem Führerhauptquartier, 10. Juli –
Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt:

Die große Abwehrschlacht im Raum von Caen griff im Laufe des gestrigen Tages auf die Stadt selbst über. Nach erbitterten Straßen- und Häuserkämpfen, in denen unsere Truppen dem Feind schwerste Verluste zufügten, drückte der Gegner unsere Linien auf den Südrand von Caen zurück. Bei Crainville scheiterten feindliche Panzerangriffe. In einer Einbruchstelle beiderseits der Straße von Caumont–Caen sind die Kämpfe noch nicht abgeschlossen. Zwischen Airei und Sainteny konnte der Feind nur geringen Geländegewinn erzielen. Südlich La Haye-du-Puits wurden mehrere feindliche Angriffe abgewiesen, westlich des Ortes feindliche Bereitstellungen durch zusammengefasstes Artilleriefeuer zerschlagen.

Bei den Kämpfen der vergangenen Woche im Südwestteil der Halbinsel Cherbourg haben sich die Kampfgruppe der 77. Infanteriedivision unter Oberst der Reserve Bacherer und die Kampfgruppe der 243. Infanteriedivision unter Oberst Klosterkemper besonders ausgezeichnet.

Im französischen Raum wurden wiederum 239 Terroristen und Saboteure im Kampf niedergemacht.

Vor der niederländischen und nordfranzösischen Küste versenkten Sicherungsfahrzeuge der Kriegsmarine in der Nacht zum 9. Juli zwei britische Schnellboote, beschädigten vier weitere schwer und erzielten zahlreiche Treffer auf mehreren anderen Booten. Ein eigenes Fahrzeug ging verloren.

Im Golf von Saint-Malo zwangen Vorposten feindliche Zerstörer zum Abdrehen und beschädigten einen von ihnen.

Das „V1“- Vergeltungsfeuer auf London dauert mit nur geringen Unterbrechungen an.

In Italien zeichneten sich unsere an der westlichen Küstenstraße bei Volterra, Poggibonsi, Arezzo und an der adriatischen Küste eingesetzten Truppen gestern erneut durch besondere Standhaftigkeit aus. Trotz Einsatzes überlegener Infanterie- und Panzerkräfte, die durch starke Artillerie- und laufende Luftangriffe unterstützt wurden, gelang dem Feind nirgends der erhoffte Durchbruch durch unsere Front, In einigen örtlichen Einbruchsstellen hielten die Kämpfe am gestrigen Abend noch an.

Im Osten ließen die Angriffe der Sowjets bei Kowel nach dem hervorragenden Abwehrerfolg unserer Truppen an Heftigkeit nach. Erneute Durchbruchsversuche wurden zerschlagen.

Westlich Baranowicze fingen unsere Divisionen die mit starken Infanterie- und Panzerkräften vordringenden Bolschewisten in erbitterten Kämpfen an der Szczara, beiderseits Slonin, auf. Die Verteidiger von Wilna behaupteten die Stadt gegen zahlreiche, von Panzern unterstützte Angriffe des Feindes und fügten ihm hohe blutige Verluste zu. Nordwestlich Wilna wurden die Sowjets im Gegenangriff zurückgeworfen. An der Straße Kauen–Dünaburg sind bei Otena heftige Kämpfe im Gange. Gegenangriffe unserer Truppen hatten Erfolg. Nordwestlich Polozk scheiterten die Durchbruchsversuche mehrerer sowjetischer Schützendivisionen am zähen Widerstand unserer Truppen.

Bei den schweren Abwehrkämpfen im Raum von Orscha hat sich Major Lampfrecht, Kommandeur einer hamburgischen leichten Flakabteilung, durch beispielhafte Tapferkeit ausgezeichnet.

Starke Schlachtfliegergeschwader griffen in rollenden Einsätzen in die Erdkämpfe ein, setzten zahlreiche sowjetische Panzer und Geschütze außer Gefecht und vernichteten mehrere hundert Fahrzeuge.

In der Nacht führten Kampf- und Nachtschiachtflugzeuge wirksame Angriffe gegen den sowjetischen Nachschubverkehr. Besonders in den stark belegten Bahnhöfen Korosten, Olewsk und Rowno entstanden große Brände in Betriebsstofflagern und heftige Explosionen.

Ein nordamerikanischer Bomberverband warf gestern verstreut Bomben im Raum von Ploesti.

Einzelne, feindliche Flugzeuge warfen in der letzten Nacht Bomben im rheinisch-westfälischen Raum.

Seestreitkräfte, Bordflak von Handelsschiffen und Marineflakartillerie schossen in der Zeit vom 1. bis 10. Juli 86 feindliche Flugzeuge ab.

406

Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (July 10, 1944)

Communiqué No. 69

Following the devastating bombing yesterday morning, armor and infantry thrusting down all roads leading into CAEN from the north and west have forced the enemy out of the town back to the line of the river ORNE. This advance was supported by naval gunfire and rocket-firing aircraft based in NORMANDY. Fighters from Britain ranged to the south and east of the town, effectively checking enemy attempts to bring up reinforcements. Reports received indicate that the enemy has suffered heavy casualties in this operation.

Patrols have crossed the river ODON a short distance above its junction with the ORNE.

In the west, an advance on both sides of the CARENTAN–PERIERS road brought Allied troops close to the village of SAINTENY.

The bridgehead over the river VIRE was further widened and strengthened in spite of stiff enemy resistance.

Small formations of fighters and fighter-bombers on patrol in the area PARIS to SAINT-LÔ and to the south attacked bridges and transport at MANTES, GASSICOURT, MONTFORT-SUR-RISLE and LESSAY. Rail embankments at BOURTH and bridges behind the enemy line were also attacked during the period from noon to midnight. Five enemy aircraft were destroyed for the loss of five of ours.

During the late evening, light bombers attacked a bridge and a rail junction north of POITIERS, ferries between QUILLEBEUF and DUCLAIR and bridges, trains and road transport east of the battle area.

In yesterday morning’s operation by escorted heavy bombers, six enemy aircraft were destroyed by our fighters. Three of our bombers and three fighters are missing.

Communiqué No. 70

In the CAEN sector, the fighting has extended to the area south of the ODON river. From the ODON bridgehead our troops have advanced through the villages of ÉTERVILLE and MALTOT. Enemy strongpoints, which were bypassed in our advance yesterday, are being systematically eliminated.

Southwest of CARENTAN, our troops advancing along the road toward PÉRIERS have liberated the village of SAINTENY. South of TILLY and south of LA HAYE-DU-PUITS, strong German armored counterattacks have been repulsed and a number of their tanks destroyed.

Widespread attacks on the enemy transportation system were carried out last night by our light bombers. Seventeen trains and associated targets on rail lines leading to the battlefront were damaged or set on fire.

Our fighter-bombers operated in the LESSAY and SAINT-LÔ sectors this morning, attacking gun positions and strongpoints.

407

The Pittsburgh Press (July 10, 1944)

British capture three towns, key height south of Caen

Yanks advance mile, extend bridgehead in central Normandy

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Two initial objectives captured, Caen and La Haye-du-Puits, British and U.S. forces today continued to advance along the road to Paris. The Yanks pushed 2,000 yards south of La Haye (1), captured the towns of Le Désert and Cavigny and drove to within five miles of Périers (2). The British and Canadians extended their beachheads across the Odon River, captured three villages and a key height, and pressed toward the Nazis’ Orne River line (3).

SHAEF, London, England –
British and Canadian forces slashed into the exposed German flank below captured Caen today and drove forward through three fortified villages to within less than half a mile of the Orne River defense line due south of Caen.

Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery’s 2nd Army, striking again while the mop-up of the Caen area was underway, stormed through Éterville, Maltot (near Esquay) and Bretteville-sur-Odon in advances up to about a mile and overran the hotly-contested height called Hill 112 commanding the Orne–Odon salient below Caen.

U.S. forces advancing down the mid-Normandy highway toward Périers captured Sainteny, five miles southwest of Carentan, and other U.S. units expanded the bridgehead across the Vire for an average gain of a mile, reaching a point only 7,000 yards from Saint-Lô.

The expansion of the Vire bridgehead almost brought the front in line with the general battle zone through the Caumont–Saint-Lô area, and a headquarters spokesman said Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley’s drive there “shows considerable long-term promise.”

Threaten encirclement

The British-Canadian armored force cutting in below Caen like a giant scythe began developing a possible encirclement maneuver against the German troops holding out in the Faubourg-de-Vaucelles, southern suburb of Caen.

The high ground captured by the Imperials between the Odon and Orne Rivers was the key to the entire Caen sector, and the victory put the final seal of the conquest of the great inland port.

A spokesman, however, emphasized that the Germans were still fighting fiercely all along the Normandy front, but had been obliged to throw in reserves they had been trying to build up for a showdown.

Orderly withdrawals

It was emphasized that wherever the Nazis were giving ground, they were doing so by orderly withdrawals, and nowhere was there a sign of disorganization in the enemy ranks or large-scale disengagement.

With the seizure of Hill 112 between the Orne and Odon, the British were able to command the highway running south and slightly west from Caen, leaving only the Caen–Falaise highway in German hands and relatively free of interference.

In the immediate area of Caen, which fell yesterday, German strongpoints which had been bypassed in the final assault on the city were being cleaned out.

Counterattacks held

West of Caen, the Germans counterattacked, but were held everywhere by the British.

The Americans who captured Sainteny pressed on down the road from Carentan toward Périers, the road hub controlling the territory between Saint-Lô and the west coast.

To the northwest, the Germans counterattacked strongly in the area of La Haye-du-Puits, captured yesterday, but the Americans beat off the blows and destroyed a number of enemy tanks.

Front dispatches disclosed that Gen. Montgomery’s tanks and infantry, supported by warships and rocket-firing planes, had cleared a six-mile stretch of the north bank of the Orne in Caen and on either side of the city.

Couldn’t wreck bridges

A headquarters spokesman said the final stages of the British advance into Caen were so rapid that the Germans were not believed to have had time to destroy all the bridges across the Orne.

The British first pushed across the Odon River some five miles southwest of Caen nearly two weeks ago and so developed their threat to the Orne River that the Germans committed a major portion of their armor there.

The line swayed back and forth during five German counterattacks, but the British held firmly to their bridgehead.

Americans also advance

One column of the U.S. 1st Army at the western end of the 111-mile front pushed 2,000 yards south of La Haye-du-Puits, another seized Le Désert and Cavigny, three miles southwest and three southeast respectively of Saint-Jean-de-Daye, and a third drove down the Carentan-Périers road.

Headquarters acknowledged that the Germans had made a minor gain in violent counterattacks on the Mount Castre plateau southeast of La Haye, though the Americans still held high ground there.

The liberation of Caen cleared away one of the strongest obstacles on the highway and railway from Cherbourg to Paris 120 miles to the east, and gave the Allies a first-class port which had a peacetime capacity of two million tons of cargo a year. Caen, the largest city yet captured by the Allies in France, had a peacetime population of 50,000, some 20,000 more than Cherbourg.

Once well across the Orne, however, Allied armor can fan out across rolling country without a natural defense obstacle for 20 miles. Any German attempt to make a stand short of a ridge running northwest from Falaise, 20 miles southeast of Caen, to the Caumont area was expected to touch off an armored battle that may determine the length of enemy resistance in western France.

Caen was little more than a crumbling mass of ruins when it fell into British hands yesterday, but its port installation and the Orne Canal leading seven miles northward to the sea were believed largely intact.