Show e German Units Cut Path to Channel Port Pott Allies Battle Grimly to Break Pincers Closing in on Northern France Reich's Planes Leave Ruin in Wake Waite WakeBy By JOE ALEX MORRIS United Press Foreign News Ed Editor or Adolf Hitler's blitzkrieg offensive stabbed 60 miles to the English channel Tuesday but allied armies battled grimly to break a huge German military pincers closing on on the coast of northern France and Belgium The desperate position of Great Britain and France was admitted in the French senate by Premier Paul Reynaud who said that unbelievable blunders blunders' permitted the nazi breakthrough breakthrough breakthrough break break- through on the River Meuse But he promised that the allies yet would conquer even if that requires a modern military miracle Almost as Reynaud spoke Germ Germanys Germany's nys ny's vast vast aerial fleet unleashed unleashed un unleashed un- un leashed all of its fury in a tremendous drive to disorganize the allied rear lines in northern France I Planes Leave R Red d Zone of Ruin f French military sources reported th that t Mar Marshal hal Hermann Goering's air force leading German divis f. f tanks tanks' and ar armored armored ar- ar mored cars had spread a red zone b bf smoking s. s pk g. g grubis ruins rubis' through and Flanders German parachute soldiers were were alleged to have dropped to lo the ground in considerable numbers with torches to set fire j to to f f factories railroad st stations munitions and fuel l dumps in Arras Amiens and other cities along the path of the G German drive toward the Eng English ish channel German bombers were said by the French to b be dropping thousands of incendiary bombs on the communications centers and other towns of northern France in addition to their heavy bombing to break a path for motorized units smashing toward the channel French and British armies were maneuvering to avoid void being severed by the te German drive Claim British Sailing for Home In Berlin the official news agency asserted that th the British Brit British ish were embarking their troops from France for Engl England nd under under un un- un der severe German air attack Apparently the Germans have to troops in their drive to the channel but huge numbers of nazi airplanes are leading the way bombing trains and apparently frustrating frustrating frustrating ing any allied effort to counter German mechanized units admittedly had taken Amiens and Arras and crashed on to Abbeville at the mouth of the River Somme in an effort to trap possibly French Belgian and British troops and take over the mile long coast opposite England The Germans also claimed to have broken up the main French army in the north and captured its commander General Henri Giraud Face Possibility of Defeat Against this fast nazi advance the the British expeditionary force that retired from the main Belgian fronts was reported fighting strongly and in good heart British as well as French military ry experts faced the possibility possibility that the battle would be lost but they pointed out th that t the Germans still must consolidate their positions and strengthen strength strength- en the thin lines of mechanized units pushed through northern northern north north- ern France Only the weakest advance units h have ve reached the channel they said Even if the nazis are successful in seizing the entire French i and Belgian coast as far as the Somme the British said the war will not be lost l But admittedly the German gains were great j Peak of th the blitzkrieg attack was at Ab Abbeville a French Frenchport Frenchport Frenchport port at the end of the Somme bay where the Somme river flows into the channel 70 miles from the shores of England Abbeville Itsel itself is s 12 miles from the channel coast Channel Reached screamed the headlines of every Berlin Berlin Berlin Ber Ber- lin newspaper Allied Armies Cut Off Forecasts Thrust at Flanders r And the conservative Hamburg Frem Den Blatt forecast that the German armies already attacking the retiring British British British Brit Brit- ish and Belgians east of Ghent would soon strike a most powerful powerful powerful pow pow- erful blow at the allied forces isolated in Flanders After that it was indicated indicated the German thrust against Continued on Page Page Pagel Three Column One I A 4 4 H a III FORCES SLASH TO CHANNEL 1 AS BOMBERS BOBERS BLAST DEFENDERS C Continued nom from P. P Page One for and which the British government prepared with great will wiil be possible Meanwhile German armies took Laon and Rethel to surge ft So ro Pa Paris s and the German air force again hammered with dous force at the British and French fleets i reporting tubing bing I of five warships and 17 transports or merchant is n Paris Paris the French contended that furious fighting still Jn progress along broken broken fronts in northern France and heir lines had given ground only at great cost to the lut but Premier Paul Reynaud admitted to the senate that ms Jos and Arras had been taken l 1 i'd ud d Admits Terrible Error Tolle e premier said that a terrible error had been commit- commit J p the French northern front where the Germans seized ge e across the Meuse that had not been blown up and thus le to pour their great mechanized strength through the allied defenses The The full extent of the German gains and of the allied coun- coun aa i ds can be determined only after further operations on ons s flattie battle attle front that is confused and jumbled as a result of nazi strategy of striking with mechanized units far in ad- ad ade adf rf e f their main forces and far behind the enemy lines G German iman man parachute troops were being used extensively in ini i tempt empt to strengthen and consolidate the lines pushed f for for- or- or lightning fashion into northern France and it was ree re- re e that hat the allies might speed their near eastern army to toce ce ceto to bolster their defenses Position Very Dangerous The German statement that the channel had been reached d 11 days of warfare through the low countries and in inSera Sera rem France and made the allied position tion seem as danger- danger not more dangerous than dangerous than at any time during the thene ar The ne Germans still are not as far advanced in French terri- terri terria a s they were at the high mark of the World war when surged aged ged to the suburbs of Paris But they have achieved ure of a channel port which they failed to do through- through iE World war and they have moved with far greater speed Furthermore the ore from Amiens the Germans are are in a position e southward toward Paris at any time they can coni con- con i late t their positions in the north And if they succeed in ing ining ing g together their vast pincers operations against the al- al armies miss in Flanders the entire channel coast will be in their with 3 with England only a few minutes away by airplane |