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GERMAN ATTACKS BROKEN ON FIRM ODON RIVERLINE

LONDON, Monday.

The.'Allied bridgehead across the Odon River stanch): firm« ' despite? a; continuous enemy j assault tin a vain < effort* to cut-off 4 the .Allied wedge at its .base.

Heavy enemy units, forming,up.for major attacks, were brokenly concentrated artillery .fire and, the attack collapsed.' Attacks;by¿maller forces, supported by a.few tanks, continue to prove costly,to the enemy.

Since-the initial landing on Normandy the numberof prisoners, taken- exceed, ,40,000.

During Saturday .. afternoon the enemy managed to'affect some pene- tration but. this-temporary1''success" was vigorously, beaten buplf with heavy losses to the enemy, in men

and tanks.

. Front », Hue correspondants report fairly 'quiet conditions' in the battle area' on Sunday. Britiqbi.troops were patrolling south f'rom'Odon River in ,the area qf.Evrecy and Esquay, but

the Germans arfe lying1 low, states

Reuters correspondent.!

The British United Press corres- pondent reports that our troops aro mainly resting in muddy slit trenches and barns, while French civilians hi their Sunday best, n few thousand yards from the-front'lino,' aro, walk-

ing under threatening, clouds and oc-

casional rain shpwcrs...

It was learned-at-Supreme-Head- quarters that lj enemy divisions are in tlic Tilly-Caen area, namely, five S.S. and two ordinary Panzer di- visions, and four infantry divisions. Some of the Panzer units came from Russia.

; Second Tactical Air Force fighters, operating from landing "strips on Normandy, on Sunday evening- des- troyed ,21 enemy planes.

Fighting French officials on .Cher- bourg Peninsula; are recruiting and training Frenchmen to fight in the coming campaigns, says. Reuters correspondent. Former French seal men are also being recruited for ser- vice, witlii French warships.

Several correspondents report thal, the Germans Vor the first 'time in France are resorting to fiendish booby-traps and mining bodies of

dead comrades.

Reuters says -¿hat M., PhjUlpe Re- nault, Mayor of Cherbourg, stated that citizens arc hoping to receive "spam" from Americans In return' foi; supplying thoi United States army with butter and fresh vegqtables.

Renault added that half the popu- lation is now returning to their homes from woods where they were hiding during the battle.

, Asked if much inter-marriage, with Germans had taken place, Renault Veplicd sadly, í'Nüt much- legal- wrar-t 'riage, but I am afraid there was much love-making."

The mayor said that Cherbourg is now a poor city. It had paid the Ger- mans a war fine of two million "francs. Germans also seized the bulk ofi wine production and food- stuffs, andjeyen .bicycles.

Extensive Damage at

Cherbourg

4 Majqr-Gengral Moprc revealed that almost all enemy shipping in Cher- bourg Harbour liad, been' sunk. He gave a., eompi ehensivc picture oft Al- lied planning, foi;, lcconslrucUpn. of ,thc ppit made long.before '*D;' day,

of extensive-« demolitions carried out

'by the Germons and told of'how op 'eralions of» Allied ciifclnepis .are be ¡ing cqi'rlefli oi'l lo puff the facilities

into working, otdcr. as speedily as possible.

Cherbourg is no Naples. In 1937 the port- handled 228.000 tons of cargp . against 3,GPO,000 by N. apjqs, (Cherbourg. is primarily a passenger port, though it has some cargo fa-

cilities.1

Cherbourg hag' about' oijc-aoventh of the capacity, of, Naples. On the goods side' it is extremely valuable, ,because lt^ has a deep water anchor- age, with a'protection against storms and direct- rail communications. It also has facilities for a, naval base lid so'Pß deep-water, berthing space.

'The Germans did a very clever job in demolitions They realised what was most' important, to us and most difficult to lepalr. They went very strongly, after deep water facilities. Walls of the berthing dock between Quay de- Normandie and Gare Mari- time -were very badly damaged and to repair,them wiU,bc a very difficult

job. There is 26 ft. of .tide compared | with two feet at Naples.

1 Shallow water basins were no^

damaged in , the same way« They wiecked rail signal. installations at

various points and went after the_, longest bridges.

Reconstruction of the \port is, an Army and Navy matter. The Navy has 'the job of sweeping the outer harbour, clear of mines, then the in- ner harbour area. They have also, to remove, underwater obstructions, other than mines and sunken vessehi in pprt. The Army's job is to get in and .remove mines from quays, road¿ bridges and beaches.

Commodore W. A. Sullivan, a U.S.N- expert, who cleared Naples for Allied shippjiig, and salvaged .the sunken Normandie- from New Yprk Harbour, is the naval port cominan. der at Cherbourg. He says, "Things are already under way. Mine-sweep*

erspare constantly working, both in^^

ner'and outer harbours.*'

German Nurses Returned

For a few minutes yesterday, a section , of the- Normandy, front was strangely quiet as two American am- bulances, carrying, a white flag, drove- to the German lines to return

six German nurses who voluntarily"' remained in Cherbourg to attend the-' German wounded, reports the British

United Press.

A German mujor and a captain met the ambulances and as- the nurses scrambled out, the. major re-

marked, "A hot day, isn't it?'', -

Some one agreed but there was no, further conversation. ,

The ambulances then returned and

immediately afterwards thëïe was-'a^ terrific .exchange of maçhinp^gun and mortar fire..

The Odon bridgehead was further' strengthened yesterday morning," ac-, cording to the SHAEF communique,

Enemy activity was.on,,a reduced!, scale, owing, probably, to the severe mauling he received on Saturday. There,were some enemy attack«, but these were firmjy repulsed. There was nothing to report from the re híaintídr of pic 'front. * " .' - - - < . Weather continued to restrict air operations on Sunday, but fighter

bombers attacked bridges over the,, Orne River. Fighters attacked ] vehicles on roads behind the enemy

lines. Twepty-one enemy planes were , shot down for the loss of three oí,

ours.

One enemy aircraft was destroyed over Normandy, last night.

The British United Press corres- pondent stated that the Allies-now hold a bridgehead of 1,100 square miles, running 120 miles along the_ Normandy coast over a zig-zag front' of 111 miles. The greatest width ia not less than 20, miles.

The establishment of the bridge- head caused, the enemy from 90,000 to 100,000 casualties.

Americans carried out two local attacks against two dangerous salients, west of Lodouvillo and'Cau-. mont, and both actions succeeded-'in j straightening the line and gaining

more advantageous ground..

At Cherbourg, Americans are re-

grouping for offensive operations,

elsewhere.

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