June 6, 1944; D-DAY, EUROPE INVAIDED:

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, JUNE 6, 1944:

 

June 6, 1944:

Invaders Fighting

10 Miles in France

                                                     BULLETIN

LONDON —(U,P.)~ The German Transocean news agency said tonight that the Allied "offensive area" had been extended to the entire Norman peninsula.

LONDON ~(U.P.)— Radio France at Algiers quoted a German broadcast today as saying that Allied parachutists had occupied an airdrome in the Boulogne-Calai area of the French coast along the straits of Dover.

By VIRGIL PINKLEY

(United Press ,War Correspondent) . . .

SUPPREME  HEADQUARTERS

 Allied Expeditionary Force, London—

American, British and Canadian invasion forces landed in northwestern France today, established beachheads in Normandy, and by evening had "gotten over the first five or six hurdles" in the greatest amphibious assault of all time.

Prime Minister Winston Churchill revealed that Allied troops were fighting .inside Gaen, 9 1/2 miles inside northwest France, that the invasion penetrations had reached several miles in depth in some cases, and that footholds had been established on a broad front as the operation proceeded "in a thoroughly satisfactory manner."

Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower's supreme headquarters revealed that the Allied armies, .carried and supported by 4,000 ships and'11,000 planes, encountered considerably less resistance than had been expected in the storming of  Adolf Hitler's vaunted west wall.

German broadcasts reported Allied troops pouring ashore most of the day along a broad reach of the Norman coast and to the east, and admitted that invasion landing, barges had penetrated two estuaries behind the Atlantic wall'.

The apparent key to the lightness of the German, opposition to invasion forces opening the battle of Europe was contained in a disclosure that thousands of Allied planes dropped more than. 11,200 tons of bombs on German coastal fortifications in eight and a half hours Monday night and early today.

                                  Luftwaffe to Fight to Death

As massive Allied air fleets took over complete command of the skies over the invasion zone, Reichmarshal Hermann Goering issued an order of the day to his air force declaring that the invasion "must be fought off, even if it means the death of

the Luftwaffe."

FDR Writes Prayer

—Asks All to Join Him

WASHINGTON—(U.P)—

Following,  is Pres. Roosevelt's prayer for success of our-arms in their task—

prayer in Which he asks all to Join when he utters it by radio at 9 tonight over WIBA and all net work stations:

My fellow Americans: In this poignant hour, I ask you to join me in prayer:

Almighty God: 'Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our republic, our religion, and our civilization, and

to set free a suffering humanity

 Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness to their faith.

They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest—'till the victory is won, The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will be shaken with the violences of war.

These are men lately drawn from the ways Of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and good will among all thy people. They yearn but, for the end of battle, tor their return to the haven of home.

Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

And for us at home—fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas— those thoughts and prayers are ever with them—help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.

Many people have urged that I call the nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote

themselves in continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoicing thy help to our efforts.

. Give us strength, too—strengthen our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and material support of our armed .forces.

. And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.

And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness

of our spirit ever be dulled.

ejt