Two battles for ports bitter-ended last week. Brest fell, yielding almost 40,000 prisoners. Boulogne fell, yielding more than 10,000. But the profit for General Eisenhower was small.
Brest was an extreme example of the Germans' destructive efficiency. Having tied up three U.S. divisions in the 46-day siege, the Germans left it unusable as a major port for many weeks to come. Censorship permitted no appraisal of the time that repairs might require, but the censors passed descriptions: of a swing bridge standing on its head in the river; of crumbled docks and buildings toppled on ships whose stacks stuck out of the...
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