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World War: Invasion & Counter-Invasion

1 minute read
TIME

Rumors of thwarted invasions of Great Britain have gone the rounds from time to time ever since the fall of France.

Last week BBC came out with a thin account of another “invasion” attempt. Since mid-October, it said, 15 German infantrymen from eight different units had been captured “at ports on the English southeast coast, and were in fact the first members of the great German invasion Army to reach England alive.” What this amounted to was nothing more than proof of what military people would naturally expect, i.e., cross-channel raids by small parties of both sides to feel out enemy dispositions.

As long ago as last July, British soldiers & sailors raided Saint-Malo in broad daylight (TIME, July 8). AP’s William Mc-Gaffin, arriving in New York from London last week, told of at least nine sorties into German-held France by British volunteer motorcyclists. Slipping across the Channel at night, in little trawlers and fishing smacks, they landed at deserted sectors of the French coast, rattled off inland in groups of 50. One raid, detailed to harass the German Army of Occupation, capture prisoners and gather information, went as far as Amiens.

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