THE HINGE OF CATANIA

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 92, 23 July 1943, Page 4

THE HINGE OF CATANIA

HALF Sicily is now in Allied hands and according to the latest reports the only centre of hard fighting at the pre-) sent time appears to be at Catania—the eastern naval base which must be regarded as the mouth, or receiving depot for supplies to the beleagued Fascist and Nazi forces. It speaks well for the deployment of the Allied invasion army to note that the veterans of North Africa are pit-» ted against what has turned out to be the greatest point of enemy resistance in the island. Our intelligence service was not at fault when such an important decision was arrived at and in spite of the stiff fighting which has been raging for the best part of a week we can say proudly that once again 'Monty's Desert Rats' will achieve their objective. The offensive front has now assumed the: appearance of a gigantic line of advance across the centre of Sicily with the hinge upon the hub of serious fighting ; outside Catania. The American and Canadian columns are sweeping north of Enna and a general retreat of the defenders is •now taking place towards Messina, in the northern corner of the island. Will the story of Cape Bon, in Tunisia be rer peated once again or will the defiant stand at Catania be but a desperate, prelude to a last minute counter move by the badly-worried Axis partners. The conference between the two dictators in northern Italy may well provide the answer, though the possibility of an offensive thrust at this juncture appears to be remote. On the other hand we must not forget that the Italian Navy, which has hitherto played no part in the defence of Sicily, may yet be utilised. It would certainly be a desperate expedient in the face of the overwhelming sea-strength of the Allies at the present juncture—but are we not dealing with a desperate situation out of which anything can happen, and upon which the two European Dictators have been in anxious consultation. Sicily, though its fate seems inevitable, with a garrison of something like 200,000 men, will not be relinquished without a struggle greater than has taken place hitherto.