SLOW ADVANCE IN ITALY

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 10, 7 October 1943, Page 5

SLOW ADVANCE IN ITALY

Many Demolitions GERMANS’ SMALL REARGUARD

Fight To Death Order (British Official Wireless and Press Assu.) RUGBY, October 5.

The Filfth Army’s advance averages a mile and a-half a day, demolitions being the chief cause of delay, states a war correspondent in Italy. The thickly-wooded orchard country makes observation difficult and the roads are nuarrow.. Prisoners say that small groups of Germans left behind to cover the retreat are ordered to light on till death. One prisoner was only 16 years of age. Five German divisions are now.holding the line from coast to coast, and the enemy Ims increased his resistance on both the coastal sectors. On the central sector the Germans are bolding the Allies with road-blocks, and the contact is light. Both armies have been reinforced round Termoli, in the east The German commander Kesselring is reported to be sending troops from the Volturno line to Rome. A report from Madrid estimates that the equivalent of two divisions arrived at Rome on Saturday. Some Allied correspondents believe that Kesselring will not lose much time in going north to link up wit lithe main German forces under Rommel. Other correspondents, however, think lie is unlikely to order a further retreat without strong pressure by the, Allies. He will probably follow Rommel’s tactics in the retreat across Libya, hold successive positions in sufficient strength to force the Allies to deploy their main strength to deal with him, and then withdraw to another position before being'brought to battle. This would impose the maximum delay on the Allies without further depleting the weakened German forces. Among the airfields now in our hands are the main Naples airport and another with two miles of concrete runways. Hundreds of enemy planes are lying burnt-out on the ground. General Clark’s forces are now 1J miles north of Naples, where they are meeting with stiff German opposition, says Algiers radio. The Allied line runs from Termoli, on the Adriatic coast, southward to Montecalvo,- and thence westward through Benevento to a point north of Naples. Allied bombers are striking at the coastal road to Rome and at other ob jectives north of the Allied armies. Palermo radio says that units of the Eighth Army made contact with German rearguard troops on the Volturno River line. I ’