The Gazette from Montreal, Quebec, Canada • 6

THE GAZErrTE: MONTKEAE5 WEDNESDAY: JUNE 7. VOL. CLXXIII. No. 136 Ten Major, Invasion CANADIANS ROLL THROUGH FROSINONE CHURCHILL'S REPORTS ON INVASION they "were embarking In the last few days, were splendid to witness.

Nothing in the way of equipment, science or forethought has been neglected and the whole process of opening this great new front will be pushed by the commanders and by the United States and British Government whom they rolling on the choppy waters of the Channel. The batteries attacked were of two types, with two different functions. There were long-range rifles mostly 155 and 177 milimetre weapons to engage shipping far out at sea. Equally important to the success of the landing were the batteries of heavy howitzers sited on the beaches or in areas just off the beaches, where landing craft might congregate. Both types are strongly protected, with most of the former in casemates or reinforced concrete, while the howitzers are in sand-bagged emplacements or newly constructed casemates.

The preliminary air attacks appear to have been successful, for reports from the front stressed the failure of the German batteries to maintain determined fire. Many of the casemates were blown in. while some of the howitzers were knocked over by the blasts and their gun pits smothered with dirt and torn up by bombs. This destruction was well under way by dawn, when over 1,000 Flying Fortresses and Liberators of the Eighth United States Air Force roared out from Britain to maintain the bombing. At the same time far wm 4 'M pXp.

rr) 'mm 7, A Canadian-manned M-5 tank and other Allied motorized units are shown above moving through the main street of Frosinone, Italy, shortly after this highly important German communications centre fell to the fast advancing British Eighth Army on iheir victorious march to Rome, intwnttknti oowuii. Silent Welcome at British Port Greets First Invasion Casualties out at sea gunfire flickered along the decks of" battleships, monitors. cruisers and destroyers as they engaged not only gun batteries but strongpoints and blockhouses along the Normandy beaches. By this time troop carriers ana gliders of the Ninth AA.F. and the Royal Air Force had liown paratroops and air-borne infantry to their objectives, and the two-sided battle of the Atlantic Wall had begun on the ground as well as in the air and at sea.

All dav the biz guns roared from sea to shore and from shore to sea. All day Liberators, Fortresses, Marauders, Mitchells. Typhoons, Hav- ocs ana xnunaerotuu ot wic air forces bombed German coastal defence and enemv troop concen trations sheltered in the lush orchards of Normandy. All day Al' lied fighters patrolled the battle area at the beachheads and spread an air umbrella above the invasion fleet. Air Marshal SirTrafford I.

Leigh- Mallory, Gen. Eisenhower's aeputy commander or air, was so proud of the work done by the Allied air forces that this morning while the battle was still developing he con gratulated his forces on tne -magnificent work done in preparation for the invasion." As this message was nasnea to the far-flung squadrons of the R.A. nA U.SAJLT. the battle on the ground, where it will eventually be fought and won. was beginning with the first air-borne landings.

According to enemy radio reports, these made "in great depth in the area of the seine bay. Ornish air-borne units had been dropped in the Le Havre area, while Americans floated earthward in the Normandy region. Air-borne troops lanaea ai fleur east of Le Havre at Caren-tAn five miles from Seine bay in the Cherbourg peninsula, and northeast of Caen between the estuaries of the Seine and Orne, the uermans said. The Ailed sea-borne landings ee-gan to develop along the coast of Normandy at the same time. The Germans piiced the first attacks between the mouths of the Seine mid vire on a stretch or coast a miles lone beginning in the east ot Trouville and Deauville, once filled with holiday crowds from ail over Europe, reaching to tne isay oi Isigny in the west stretch of the coast nearest to Paris and connected with the capital by good rail and highway communications.

AMERICAN TANKS LAND American tanks nurred ashore In the region of Arromanches, a small fishing village 15 miles northwest of Caen, ana at Asnenes in me Seine bay. the Germans said, adding that 35 tanks Were destroyed in fighting around the latter town. What the Germans described as "particularly extensive- landings" also were made at the smau coasiai village of St Vaast la Hougue, close to the tip of the Cherbourg peninsula. The enemy also claimed the Allies had landed on Guernsey and Jersey in the Channel Islands, last bit of British Empire held by Hitler. As infantry crawled over the beach obstacles frora the sea, airborne invaders were fighting a hot battle in the region of Caen, according to enemy reports.

Cam lies on the main railroad line running from Cherbourg to Rouen, Evereux and Paris, and is the junction of nine highways. Other large air-borne concentrations were around Le Havre and Cherbourg, and the ene- London, June 6. The text of Prime Minister Churchill' speech in the House of Commons: The House think, take formal notice of the liberation of Rome by Allied armies under the command of Gen. Alexander, with Gen. Clark of the United States services and Gen.

Oliver Leese in command of the Fifth and Eighth Annies respectively. This is a memorable and glorious event -which rewards the intense fights cf the last five months in Italy. The original landings made on January 22 at Anzio have in the end borne good fruit. In the first, place. Hitler was induced to send to the south of Rome eight or nine divisions which he rmsht well have needed elsewhere.

Secondly, these divisions were repulsed and their teeth were broken by the successful response of the Allied bridgehead force in an important battle which took place in the middle of February, the lasses on both sides were heavy, the Allies losing about 20,000 and the Germans about 25,000 men. Thereafter the Anzio bridgehead was considered by the enemy to be impregnable. Meanwhile, a great regrouping bf the main army had to take place before the attack could be renewed. These attacks were at first unsuccessful, and Cassino still blocked the advance. Gen.

Alexander began his present operations, and after unceasing and intense fights by the whole of the snav. broke into the enemy lines and entered the Liri valley. It is noteworthy that considering the fight from the right to the left, Polish, British. French and United States forces all broke the German lines in front of them by frontal attacks, and this has an important bearing on other aspects which I shall come to later. 150,000 AT BRIDGEHEAD.

At "what we considered to be the Tight moment, the bridgehead forces, which had by this time reached a total of nearly 150,000 men, fell on the retreating enemy's flank, and threatened his retreat. The Junction of the main army with the bridgehead forces drove the enemy off his principal lines of retreat to the north, forcing a great part of his army to retire in considerable disorder and with heavy loss, especially In materiel, to mountainous country. Allied forces with great rapidity were grouped with special emphasis to their left. The American and ether forces of the Fifth Army broke through the enemy's last lines and entered Rome where Allied troops have been received with joy by the population. This entry and the liberation of Rome means we shall have the power to defend it from hostile air attacks, and deliver it from the famine with which it was threatened.

However, Gen. Alexander's prime object has never been liberation of Rome, great as are the moral, political, and psychological advantages of this episode. Allied forces with the Americans in the van are driving ahead northwards in relentless pursuit of the enemy. The destruction of the enemy's armies have been throughout the aim, and they are now being engaged at the same time along the whole length of the line as they attempt to escape to the north. 20.000 PRISONERS It Is hoped that the 20,000 prisoners already taken will be followed by further captures in the near future and that the conditions CANDCK AIRBOMS HAD STIFF TRAINING Paratroopers Landing in France Underwent Strenuous Pre-invasion Routines By ROSS MUNRO.

"With the Canadian Army Invasion forces, June For the first time in Dominion history, Canada had parachute troops ready for action when the Allies invaded Europe. Nearly two years ago this Canadian parachute force was formed for Just such an assignment. Reports from Supreme Head-ejimrters of the Allied Expeditionary Force said today Canadian airborne forces were among those which landed successfully in the opening assault on Northwestern France.) Every officer and man in the Canadian force is a volunteer from an infantry, artillery or tank regiment of the Canadian Army as well as other services. They trained at Fort Benning, Ga, and at Chilo Camp, before coming to England in August, 1943. In England they joined a British airborne division marked for the invasion attack and are the most highly specialized force in the Canadian Army.

Some officers and men have made 50 training jumps. Route marches, infantry training 'on the ground and "PT were daily routine. Sometimes they marched 60 miles in full kit in 25 hours. Each training day started with a two mile pre-breakfast run. CO.

FROM SASKATOON The commanding officer comes from Saskatoon and as a junior officer in the Saskatoon Light Infantry went on the Spitzbergen raid In the summer of 1941. He has commanded the force since it was organized. Major Jeff Nicklin, Winnipeg Blue Bomber football star, is second in command and adjutant is Capt John Girvin of Toronto. LI Ken Arril of Port Arthur, Ont, is assistant adjutant. Other majors in the unit include E.

T. Munro. Ottawa and Kingston, Listed in Present War: London. June 8. Here ere key invasion dates during this war: Poland September 1, 1939.

Norway and Denmark, April 9, 1940. Holland. Belgium and Luxembourg, May 10, 1940. Yugoslavia 1 and Greece, April 8 1941. Crete.

May 20. 1941. Russia, June 22, 1941. Allies invaded: French North Africa, November 8 1942. Sicily, July 10, 1943.

Italy, September 3, 1943. France, June 6, 1944, my claimed the landings there had been made in order to seize there ports for the invasion fleet. The enemy claimed a battleship had been badly damaged and a cruiser and large transport sunk during a duel between shore batteries and the naval escort. The enemy put the escort at fix battleships and 20 destroyers with well over 2.000 landing craft some of them 3,000 tons, participating in the landings in Seine Bay. The sea-borne landings were made over the intricate and elaborate German obstructions mainly because Gen.

Eisenhower landed his forces at low tide, when engineers and naval parties could deal with underwater obstacles. These included mines moored below the low water line, beach mines and hundreds of obstacles. The latter included a section of braced fences, concrete pyramids, and wood and steel "hedgehogs. All of these obstacles were extensively mined either with teller mines or specially prepared artillery-projectiles. But before the invasion armada could reach these defences, some 200 Allied minesweepers manned by 10,000 officers and men.

had to sweep a passage through the extensive minefields with which the enemy had masked the approaches to the beaches. It was officially called the biggest, probably the most difficult and certainly tha most concentrated mine-sweeplnjt operation ever carried out This most delicate and dangerous work was done at night In a crou-tlde oi two knots. When dawn came the landing craft were moving slowly toward the beaches through the swept channels and the minesweepers wer weeping new areas. It was through these sea defences that the invasion ships had to male their way before they grated onto the Continental beaches. Ashore, engineers and infantry found a variety of new obstacles.

Entire beaches were guarded by bolts of barred wire. Exits from tha beaches were blocked by adaption of the existing sea-walls to antitank walls. Anti-tank ditches to 60 feet wide had been extensively dug and minefields had been laid up to a depth of more than 1.000 yards from the shore, while inundations were employed wherever the ground was suitable. Honflenr Captured Barcelona, Spain June 6. UP) German reports received here today said Allied forces were in full possession of Honfleur at the mouth of the Seine.

Honfleur is across the river mouth from Le Havre and the harbor was enlarged shortly before the war. From Honfleur the Allied forces were said to be fanning out to tha east and south toward Pont Au-demer. 14 miles to the east Beuze- vine, ocvm mucm ana ron( L'Eveque. The latter town was reported heavily bombed by Allied plane and already under Allied artillery fire. It is 7 miles inland, southeast of the fashionable beach resort of Deauville.

Cantor Chosen Speaker Cantor Nathan Mendelnen of tha Shaar Hashomayim Congregation. Westmount will be the principal speaker at the annual dinner of the Shearith Israel Service Club of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue. 4o be held tonight at Shapiro's Dining Room. His topic will be Song in the Service of the Synagogue. The choir of Shearith Israel Congregation, its choristers and its leaders.

Messrs. Kirschberg and Jacob Greenspoon, will be honored ior laumui servicra renosreu vj nm cause of Sephardic music. A. J. Livinson.

will preside. MA 9431 FINANCIAL AGISTS of the enemy's army which he has crowded into southern Italy will be decisively affected. It would be futile to attempt to estimate our final gains at the present time. It is our duty, however, to pay the warmest tribute of gratitude and admiration to Gen. Alexander for the skill with which he has saddled this army of so many different states and nations, and fbr the temerity and fortitude with which he sustained long periods when success was denied.

In Gen. Clark of the U.S. Army he has found a leader, a fighting leader of the highest order with the qualities that all the Allied troops have shown themselves, in noble and un jealous rivalry. The great strength of the air forces at our disposal as well as the preponderance of our armor undoubtedly contributed in a noteworthy and distinctive manner to the successes which have been achieved. We must await further developments in the Italian theatre before it is possible to estimate the magnitude or the quality of the gains, great and timely though they are.

ANNOUNCES INVASION. I have also to announce to the House that during the night and early hours of this morning, the first of a series of landings in force upon the European continent has taken place. In this case, the liberating assault fell upon the coast of France. An immense armada of upwards df 4,000 ships together with several thousand smaller craft crossed the channel. Mass airborne landings have been successfully effected behind the enemy's lines.

Landings on the beaches are proceeding at various points at the present time. The fire of chore batteries has been largely quelled. Obstacles which were encountered the sea have not proved as difficult as was apprehended. The Anglo-American allies are sustained by about 11,000 first line aircraft, which can be drawn upon as may be needed for the purposes of the battle. I cannot, of course, commit myself to any particular details, as reports are coming in in rapid succession.

So far the commanders who are engaged report that everything is proceeding according to plan. And what a plan. VAST PLAN. This vast plan is undoubtedly the most complicated and difficult that has ever occurred. It involves the tides, wind, waves and visibility both from the air and sea standpoints, and the combined employment of land, air and sea forces in the highest degree of intimacy.

There are already hopes that actual tactical surprise has been attained, and we hope to furnish the enemy with a succession of surprises during the course of the fighting. The battle which has now begun will grow constantly in scale and in intensity for many weeks to come, and I shall not attempt to speculate on its course, but this I may say that complete unity prevails. Throughout the Allied armies there is a brotherhood in arms between us and our friends in other states. There is complete confidence in the supreme commander. Gen.

Eisenhower, and in his lieutenants, and also in the commander of the expeditionary force, Gen. Montgomery. The ardor and spirit of the troops, as saw for myself when Petain Urges French Not to Assist Allies London, June The Paris radio today broadcast an appeal by Marshal Petain to Frenchmen to refrain from actions "which would call down upon you tragic reprisals." "'France has become a battlefield," said the aged Vichy chief. "The circumstances of battle may compel the German army to take special measures in the battle area. Accept this necessity." He called on officials, railway-men and workers to remain at their posts where they would serve the German military machine "in order to keep the life of the nation and in order to carry out your tasks.

"Do not listen to outside voices calling on you not to listen to our decrees: he said. The marshal appeared, to be speaking under great emotional stress. The broadcast was heard by Reuters news agency. Ont, Don Wilkins, Toronto, who went to Dieppe with the Toronto Scottish machine gunners, C. E.

Fuller. Toronto and H. M. Mac Leod, New Glasgow, N.S. Capt.

Peter Griffin, formerly of the 48th Highlanders, is witn the unit. The padre is Capt. George Harris of Winnipeg. The padre and the medical officer, Capt. N.

Breb- ner or Toronto jump with the troops. Among the lieutenants are Marcel Cote, Montreal; W. R. Crox-f ord, Kirkland Lake, a hard rock miner; E. R.

Friel, Ottawa; J. A. Simpson, Toronto; B. E. Besteck, Winnipeg; u.

s. MacLean, Winnipeg; Jim Gregor, Winnipeg; R. J. Mitchell, Weyburn. J.

A. Clancy, Toronto; J. P. Rousseau, Montreal; R. E.

Harrison. Winni peg; J. A. Rossiter, Halifax, and a. a.

iwaaaen, Winnipeg. Another captain is J. P. Hanson. Montreal.

Regimental sergeant-major is W. Clark. Ottawa and C.O.M.S. include Ross Johnson, Calgary, Bill Blair, Montreal. G.

Q. Imbree, Vancouver, and L. B. Hall, Montreal. Newborn Named Dee Day Norfolk.

June 6. P) Dee Day Edwards was the name given today to a daughter born to Randolph end Alice Edwards here. TISSUE Second Invasion Report London. June 6 Text of Prime Minister Churchill's second invasion report to the House of Commons: I promised to report to the- House later on in the sitting and I have been at centres where the latest information is received and I can state that this operation is proceeding in a thoroughly satisfactory manner. Many dangers and difficulties which this time last night appeared extremely formidable are behind us.

The passage of the sea has been made with far less loss than we apprehended. The resistance of the batteries has been greatly weakened by the bombing by the air force and the superior bombardment of our ships quickly reduced eir fire to dimen sions which did not effect the problem. The landing of the troops on a broad front, both British and American Allied troops I will not give the list of different nationalit ies they represent or the states they represent but the landings along the whole front have been effective and the troops have penetrated in some cases several miles inland. Lodgements exist on a broad front. The outstanding feature has been the landings of the airborne troops who were of course on a scale far larger than anything that has been seen so far in the world.

These landings took place with extremely little loss and with great accuracy. Particular anxiety attached to them because the conditions of life prevailing in the very limited ner- lod of the dawn or just before the dawn, the conditions of visibility, made all the difference. It might easily have been that something might have happened at the last minute which would not enable the airborne troops to play their part RISK GREAT A very great degree of risk had to be taken in respect of the matter. But Gen. Eisenhower's courage is equal to all the necessary decisions that have to be taken in these difficult and uncontrollable matters.

The airborne troops are well established and the landings and the followups are all proceeding with much less losses than we expected, very much less losses. There is fighting proceeding at various points. We have captured various bridges which are of importance and which were not blown up. There is even fighting proceeding in the town of Caen inland. All this although a very valuable first step, a vital and essential first step gives no indication whatever of what may be the course of the battle in the next few days and weeks because the enemy will in all probability endeavor to concentrate on this area, and in that event heavy fighting will soon begin and will continue without any end, as fast as we can push troops in and enemy can bring other troops.

It is a most serious time we enter upon and if is good we enter upon it with our great allies all in good heart and good friendship. AMBULANCE UNITS DRILLED FOR ROLE Canadian Personnel Readied for Task After Weeks of Training By WILLIAM STEWART. With the Canadian Army Invasion Forces, June 6. (CP. Cable) Ambulance units, trained to move easily and quickly with front line medical equipment followed closely on the heels of Canadian troops who invaded the continent today.

Ambulance personnel lived for weeks under canvas in the concentration area and drilled for their important role in the invasion-Company commanders in one ambulance unit which went through this training were Maj. G. Norton of Alix, and Maj. R. T.

Potter, Tottenham, Ont The officer commanding was a lieutenant-colonel from Waterloo, Ont. The adjutant, Capt. Al Richardson, Pet-itcodiac. N.B., was one of the unit's oldest members. Lt.

Jack Mackie. Macdonald College, St. Anne de Bellevue, was the stretcher bearer officer. Capt. Ed Miller, Toronto, the quartermaster, was a veteran of the Great War and wore the Military Medal and Bar.

CSM. Bill Pearson, Victoria, B.C., was one of the men. responsible for the design of the stretcher-bearing jeep used extensively for evacuation of casualties among the Canadians in Italy. Pearson got the idea for putting racks on tops of the jeeps two years ago whe'n the first of the little vehicles reached the Canadian army. He holds the M.B.E.

for his share in the design. Ground Crews of Air Play Important Role An R.C.A.F. Base Somewhere in England. June 6. (CP cable) Playing an important if unglorified role in the invasion were the thousands of air force ground crews who worked untiringly to keep Allied planes in the air as a protecting screen over the beachheads of France.

At scores of fields throughout England these ground crews of all air forces, R.A.F., American and Canadian, did their job to get the planes ship-shape, watched them take-off and eyed the sky for their return. Perhaps the general feeling of the air forces ground crews wis best reflected by LAC. Victor Sinclair, 218 St. Joseph boulevard, Montreal, a fitter who looks after planes flown by FO, Ray St. Georges of Montreal and WO.

Bob Maranda of Montreal. "Let's hope it's over 31110," he said. The engines of planes at this base were all in perfect shape because "we have been workintf on them long enough for them to work wen." Ground crew around this base included LAC Alfred Breton, 185 Church avenue, Verdun. ground men, carried out seLxou- WEST WALL BREACH FORCED BY ALLIES (Continued from Page One.) from the north included one 16-inch gun battleship the British battle ship Warspite, the American battleship Nevada, veteran of Pearl Har bor: the American cruisers Augus ta and Tuscaloosa, the British cruis ers' Mauritius, Belfast. Black Prince and Orion, and literally shoals of destroyers flying the Stars and Stripes and the wnite Ensign.

Steaming through channels swept by 200 British minesweepers, the men o'war escorted thousands of landing craft transports and as sault craft bearing Gen. Sir Bernard Montgomery landing forces to tne peaches. Shortly before the first soldier3 "hit the beach," three German torpedo boats and an undisclosed number of armed trawlers attack ed. They were driven off with withering fire, with one trawler be ing sunk and another severely dam aged. Then the destroyers turned their guns on the enemy defences while other ships engaged the enemy bat teries, already battered by about 7,000 tons of high explosive.

The large air-borne forces which were dropped inland in the night were already assembling behind the Atlantic Wall as the first troops scrambled up the beaches. irawn was the climax or the first phase of the invasion. Wave after wave of American bombers at least 31,000 Allied airmen were in the air between midnight and breakfast took up the task of flat tening Uerman defences and siienc ing their guns. Fighter planes circled over the beachheads on de fensive patrol, while fighter- bombers darted inland to attack German troops moving up to attack the airborne and seaborne invaders. So feeble was the Luftwaffe opposition that one fighter force weDt 75 miles Inland without in terceptlon.

In one of the few clashes, 300 Marauders ran into 20 Focke Wulf 190s. destroying one enemy plane without loss. The ereat fleet of over 1,000 tug planes, including gliders and tow- planes, were almost unmolested when they carried the air-borne force to the objectives, while some Fortress groups reported neither fithter interference nor flak. All day the weather forced the medium and light to at tack at low level. 300 marauders bombing from 3,000 feet during the afternoon.

Havocs on a similar at tack jumped and halted a column of German armored cars. Road junctions and railway yards behind the enemy lines were combed repeat edlv. Air and naval losses for the first day are considered remarkably low at this headquarters, although it is emphasized the enemy has not attacked strongly in either element One American battleship risking unswent mines and shore torpedo tubes, moved in to short range in order to silence a troublesome battery which was holding up the operations with its fire. MONTGOMERY'S MESSAGE Shortly before his forces left Britain. Gen.

oMntgomery issued a stirring message to his troops, in which ne said tne ume naa come to deal the eneity a terrific blow in western Euroxte. "We have a ereat and righteous cause," the British general declared, adding that he had "complete confidence in the successful outcome of the onerations. Todays operations, the greatest yet undertaken oy the western nowers. were marked bv the com plete integration of all striking arms. Tens of thousands of bombs and shells tore at German defences as the air force and navy gave maximum support to the infantry men struggling ashore, or to the air-borne torces attacKing tne ai lantic Wall from the rear.

The Bomber Command of the Royal Air Force, the first Allied force to strike at the heart of Germany in this war, had the hon or of opening the assault At 11:30 last night the first of ten waves of Lancasters and Halifaxes swept in from the sea to begin the bombardment of German batteries along the French coast, xnere were more than 100 bombers in this and subsequent waves, and the total number "heavies involved was more than 1.300. Since on such a short trip each of these "heavies" can carry at least five tons of bombs, enemy batteries were hit by around 7,000 tons of bombs before the sun rose to reveal the great invasion fleet gently By RUTH At a port in Southern England, June 6. (JF) A British sailor, his young face grimy with coal dust and his dark eyes solemn, stood at attention with fixed bayonet at the head of the gangplank. The first American dead in the invasion of Western Europe were being brought off minesweepers. dubbed "Smokey Joes'' the first snips out and the first oacic.

There were survivors, too, 19 of them, "picked up at sea." I was the only, correspondent present. Tnose witn a job to ao went down to the quay. A big truck drove up to take the survivors to a British camp. Ambulances imea up. American soldiers on the wharf with rifles and blue arm bands marked "security" watched all comers.

I was told not to attempt to talk to anyone getting off the ship. The survivors are called "brief Many Secret Weapons Unveiled for Invasion London, June 6. Many secret weapons were used for the first time tonight by the liberating armies, the Ministry of Supply disclosed tonight. While not disclosing the types and actual number of these weapons, the Ministry said factories had been manufacturing them for many months past under the greatest secrecy. Often workers themselves did not know what they were making.

The weapons, many so vital they were made in small parts at widely separated plants, were brought together only for final assembly. Workers in these plants were pledged to secrecy and they kept the trust. tines all day. After each sortie they checked the planes thoroughly and refueled them immediately so they were constantly ready almost every minute they were on the ground. 2 Canadian Destroyers Participate in Invasion New York.

June 6. CB The Canadian destroyers Sioux and Algonquin were in the Allies' great invasion fleet which smashed at the French coast today, the BBC said tonight. The famous British, battleship Warspite, which sunk seven destroyers in' the Norwegian port of Narvik during the German invasion of Norway in 1940, also participated in the attack, the BBC said, along with the battleships Nelson and Ra-milles and the British cruisers Glasgow, Enterprise and Orion. The United States battleships Nevada, Texas and Arkansas took part, the BBC added. (It was announced in London Tuesday that the Nevada, repaired and restored to duty, after being badly damaged in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941, was among the Allied armada.

(Desmond Tighe of Reuters News Agency named the battle cruiser Warspite and the cruisers Orion, Mauritius and Black Prince as part of the invasion fleet.) R.O.N. Carries Canadians With the Canadian Forces in France, June 6. (CB Two landing-craft flotillas of the Royal Canadian Navy carried a portion of the Canadian assault troops to France and put them down on the beaches in the first wave of attack. A reserve formation which went in on the heels of the assault waves was taken to France entirely by Canadian craft and crews, and other follow-up troops were also carried by R.C.N. craft.

This was the biggest task ever undertaken by the R.C.N. landing craft flotillas. Ten Minutes Required To Fly Invasion Fleet By PO. MYER NEGRU, R.OA.F. At an R.CA.F.

reconnaissance base somewhere in England, June 6. (CP. Cable.) The spearhead of the Allied invasion armada heading towards Northern France was so huge it took reconnaissance planes 10 minutes to fly its length, said Fit. J. R.

Manser of Sault Ste. Marie, on his return from a reconnaissance flight today. "They (the ships) were so thick, one could almost walk across them from shore to shore," he said. "I saw them pumping shells from a few miles off shore." Manser, flying with the City of Sudbury Squadron, said that on the way into enemy territory he saw COWAN. troops" men who have been told too much, who have seen too much of the invasion plan to speak to anyone not there.

They will be closely guarded until they go out attain. The first mlnsweeper eased up to the dock. No one cheered. Then the first survivor came on to deck and up the gangplank. He was a young lad with light brown hair.

He wore the two-piece white pajama-like suit given men picked up at sea. Willing British hands helped him into a waiting truck. Others came, some tired. One stumbled, one wore borrowed navy gear. As they came ashore another mine sweeper eased alongside with three survivors.

One shouted as he climbed into a truck, ''We made it after alL" "Bring up the ambulances," came a command. Litter bearers began placing them beside the gangplank. No one spoke. On the way back a half hour later, several appeared to be right by the beach. FO." W.

P. Golden of St. Thomas, sighted several barges lined up along the beach and in front of each approximately half a dozen mechanized vehicles. "They were heading inland in a line and looked like tanks to me," he said. Poor visibility over the landing beaches prevented observation of the actual fighting but reconnals-ance fliers saw gun flashes fro.n land and Allied naval vessels returning the fire from positions off the coast MONTY ONCE AGAIN FACED BY ROMMEL Allied General Told Recent Press Conference He's Confident of Outcome At General Montgomery's headquarters, June 6.

(CP cable) Gen. Montgomery and Field Marshal Rommel chief protagonists in the campaign which put the Ger mans out of Egypt and Tripolitania are at grips again in a decisive battle in France. The two military chessmasters now are. engaged in their grimmest encounter of all. As the Allied invasion of France was launched, it was disclosed to day that the commander of the Allied invasion ground forces held an interview with 200 war correspondents on May 15 22 days ago In which he said: "I think Rommel will commit himself on the bea ches." He told the correspondents British, Canadian and American among them "I have absolute and complete certainty in the out come." Gen.

Montgomery said he foresaw bitter lighting on the beaches be cause he had come to know Rom mel as an impulsive commander who preferred to reach a quick de cision rather than engage in a slow slugging match. "He will try to knock us back into the sea. He is a disrupter and to disrupt the invasion he will try 10 nil us eany. With a slight smile, he said he considered it a compliment that the Germans had placed Rommel in command in the west He thought xne rormer Airika K.orps commander would try to spoil the landing from the start and would 1 have tanks and guns right up on the coast The correspondents sat facinff the general who stood on a flatform on which a plaster miniature of the invasion coast was set up for study in planning. Gen.

Montgomery talked informally for more than an hour. In addition to discussing the invasion from the west he talked about human relations in war examined the fundamental characteristics of the German soldier, spoke of the demoralizing effect of defensive warfare on the German High Command, and praised Allied bombing and Allied teamwork. He looked more urbane than he used to as commander of the British Eighth Army. The German soldier is still an excellent fighter, the ground commander said, but he felt the German general staff is losing its grip, possibly because it has been fighting a defensive battle for the last year. The general used the term "party" in referring to the invasion operation and said it probably would be "rough" but the forces had known rough parties before When you are preparing your JSPiU of reviewing your present it is a wise pre caution to consult one of our Estates officers, We are thoroughly familiar wkh the planning of Wills and all legal imposts which may; affect your Estate as the result of Income Tax and Succession Putjj levies.

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