Show r I I I r CLAIM Nazi Units Drive West T Toward award English Channel Hitler's Forces Try to Force Wedge Between France and Belgium Battle Rages TOO Miles From Paris By JOE ALEX MORRIS United Press Foreign News Editor Flying German columns are driving n northwest toward the English channel from near the French border it was reported Friday forcing an allied withdrawal from the defense defens lines which protected Brussels The German threat was that Belgium would be cut off from France isolating allied armies in Belgium from their communications and supplies The Belgian government evacuated Brussels and moved to Ostend on the channel In Berlin the high command declared that German troops have entered Brussels German troops the high com command and said advanced along the River Dyle occupying g the allied defensive positions They first occupied the battered city of Louvain and then advanced into Brussels Nazis declared that the Dyle river positions were taken in m vigorous fighting with the British and Belgian troops which I had been protecting the Belgian capital The British public was being prepared apparently at go government government gov gov- v- v order for bad news The gravity of the situation was emphasized in London In London it was reported that Germans Germans' ar are are driving to toward toward toward to- to ward Laon and Marie MarJe about 70 Armies northeast Of Paris The German thrust toward Laon and Marie is being carried out it was understood by two mechanized and armored columns These columns columns' appeared to be driving In n the the immediate e Y direction of Soissons on the River Somme bu but it was de denied r emphatically in London that they had reached that point r rIt It was indicated that these German columns broke through the gap in m the French fortified lines bet between een and Sedan the Sedan the same breach through which other columns thrust and then wheeled northwestward for the dash toward the Eng Eng- lish channel Official statements In Berlin Berlin- partly confirmed by allied dispatches dis dis- dis- dis patches said patches said that the nazi blitzkrieg blitzkrieg blitzkrieg blitz blitz- krieg toward the English channel had broken the main British defense defense defense de de- de- de lines along the Dyle river in front of Brussels captured the Belgian fortress of ot Namur and smashed westward down the Sam- Sam bre river into the French Maginot line def defenses at Maubeuge On French soil according to the German high command the nazi forces widened their break breal into the Maginot line west est of the Meuse river nver so that they now claim a 62 mile front from Maubeuge to CarI CarIgnan Carignan Car- Car I nan south of Sedan from which flying mechanized columns have stabbed deeply into French territory ter ter- ter- ter In Paris Pans it was admitted that these thrusts had reached Rethel miles from the French capital and that tremendous German power pow pow- er was being thrown into the main offensive in m an attempt to win the war by a quick and devastating blow The allies fought back with everything everything everything ev ev- ev- ev they could throw Into the battle along the Maginot defenses Paris Pans dispatches said that allied planes and guns were hurling tons of high explosives into the German German German Ger Ger- man positions around Rethel in an Continued on Page Pace Two Column One NAZIS Ul CLAI BRUSSELS SEIZED D DRIVE TOWARD ENGLISH CHANNEL r Continued from Page Pig On One effort to collapse the nazi salient t The German blitzkrieg offensive methods appeared on the surface at least to mean that Adolf AdoU Hitler had bad shot the works In an offensIve offensive offensive offen offen- sive that might win or lose the war In Berlin however howe nazis nails Insisted that that was vas not necessarily true e r although they expressed confidence I that the German offensive would clear the allied forces from BelI Belgium Belgium Bel Bel- I gium glum and establish bases for atI attack attack at at- I tack on England over a short air route Neutral sources In the nazi capital capital capital capi capi- tal also said that while the German German Ger Ger- man through break-through Into France I was a n staggering triumph It did 2 not necessarily mean a decisive action since the nazis face the problem of pouring more and more 7 men into the breach and of a probable probable probable able French counter attack Both London and Paris Paris' admitted e that the military situation was grave as a result of the big bulge bulgeY Y created by the Germans In their r F main defense lines but both expressed expressed ex ex- f pressed confidence that It would be overcome I i I Nazi Attack Fans Out OutI The blitzkrieg methods of the German attack made It difficult to determine the full extent of of their gains because flying mechanized l I columns have struck In many directions under protection of the nazi air fleet The claimed In Berlin however ho appeared to have undermined undermined undermined under under- mined the main allied positions in central Belgium and to have opened the way for lightning lighting thrusts either toward the channel i ports or toward Paris or or behind the main Maginot line on the Gerk Ger Ger- k man-French man border border or or for all three I The G Germans pitted an estimated ed highly armed mechanized mechanized mechanized mecha mecha- I and armored force force aided aided by thousands of airplanes airplanes against against j possibly British French FrenchI I and Belgian troops i Must Counterattack If the German claims of adI advances advances ad ad- vances ances are accurate and accurate and they I I were vere partly confirmed at many manyI I points by guarded admissions of the French high command and French military quarters the quarters the allies al- al al allies lies fes appear to face the imminent necessity of a general counteroffensive counteroffensive counteroffensive counter- counter offensive at all points or a general withdrawal to new defense positions The Germans it was plain were throwing everything into their drive to swing their armored col col- col- col columns through the fortification systems systems systems and Into the th open country beyond where they could swiftly fan out cutting roads railroads smashing communications centers and nd disorganizing the rear after the manner employed in Poland in Holland and to a considerable extent in Norway The German high command Ina Ina in ina a issued from Chan Chan- Adolf AdoU Hitler's headquarters at the front claimed German troops are pursuing the enemy fleeing westward everywhere The capture of two French generals generals generals gen gen- and troops apparently along the River Meuse near Sedan was by the German high command which asserted that French tanks trying to counterattack counterattack counterattack counter counter- attack in Belgium near Dinant had bad been beaten off oft as Well vell as other counterattacks south of Sedan All war correspondents were ordered ordered or or- dered back from the front to general general general gen gen- eral staff headquarters at the rear Balkans Remain Jittery Nervous peace continued in the Balkans The second contingent of the Australian expeditionary force arrived d in Egypt en route to Pales Pales- tine New posters appeared in Rome urging the seizure of Corsica Corsica Corsica Cor Cor- sica from France British French and United States diplomats advised advised advised ad ad- their citizens to leave Hun Hun- gary Tension was somewhat lessin less lessIn lessin In Bucharest New restrictions on foreigners were applied in Yugoslavia Yugoslavia Yugoslavia Yugo Yugo- slavia and Cairo reported Italian firms winding up their bush bus business ess affairs An appeal for trained nurses auxiliary nurses assistant nurses and nursing aids was made in Britain in preparation for expected air raids |