8/6/1944 1.= pm John Snagge
Allied troops received a great welcome from the
French people at Bayeux. Our aircraft made 9000
sorties in the last 24 hours. Churchill strongly warned
against over optimism on this point of the operations.
Civitavecchia has been captured.
Bayeux has fallen and the road Bayeux - Caen
crossed on various points. Contact between
sea and airborne troops has been established.
Bayeux is 5 miles inland. Peacetime population
is 7000. Local people went wild when troops
entered the town, The capture is good news, important
road and rail centre. Our forces on the other
side are steadily built up. E-boats tried to
interfere unsuccessfully. Coastal batteries
in action yesterday were silenced. British
battleships Nelson, Warspite and Ramillies
take part as well as 3 USA battleships.,
2 French and a Polish cruiser.
Weather off the beaches is better today.
There have been times when unloading of the
ships was held up by bad weather.
Our air forces continued to give valuable
support. Targets up to 100 miles in front
of our advancing troops were attacked.
Yesterday in the afternoon American
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