STILL GOING BACK

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 20, 19 October 1943, Page 5

STILL GOING BACK

Germans Feel Allied Pincers

LONDON, October 17,

The speed of the Allied movements in Italy and. the relentless pressure from the two jaws of the Anglo-American pincers are keeping Air Marshal Kesselring’s forces moving back from the Volturno line, 'dispatches from the front say. The Germans have already been forced to abandon most of their •positions, and it is confidently expected that the disengaging movement must continue.

The British troops which were landed from the sea north of the Volturno River form the left jaw of the pincers. They are consolidating their positions along the canal north of the estuary and, striking inland, are developing a threat to the German coastal flank. The Americans form the right jaw, embracing valuable heights north-east of Capua and dominating the flat land north of the city.

Reuter’s correspondent on the Volturno front says that the Germans are scorching the Capua plain as they fall back in face of the Fifth Army’s thrust. Villages in the boggy land north of the Volturno River are in ruins. The Germans set fire to houses and shoot cattle, and then fall back under a smoke screen from burning hayricks.

Today resistance pockets north of Capua,'which is roughly in the middle of the Fifth Army zone, are being evacuated or eliminated. Villages abandoned by the Germans are burning. One ruined village had only two inhabitants, both old women. The others had fled. ‘Heavy fighting continues 17 miles east of Capua,.where the Fifth Army has pushed" the Germans back .three or four miles. The Germans are struggling to hold on to. the hills flanking the Allied advance northward.

Troops of the Fifth Army, who are fighting for a crossing of the Titerno River, which is a tributary of the Volturno, flowing in 30 miles up-stream, are now a little over 20 miles from Eighth Army patrols which are thrusting out from Vinchiaturo. Interlocking Movements.

The British United Press says that when the Allies are in position to .exert fully unified pressure from these interlocking movements, the fate of the Germans in the Volturno region will be Seflle(l - . - , , xl. Late dispatches emphasize that the construction of 'bridges across the Volturno is continuing at speed. Masses of men and material concentrated on the south bank are pouring across the river as each new bridge becomes available. Reuter’s Algiers correspondent says that already a powerful force of men, tanks, guns and war material has been assembled on the north bank for the next stage of the thrust to Rome, which is expected to be a battle for the vital road junction north of Capua. The fighting is expected to be heavy for this junction, from which two highways fork out toward Rome. Mr. Noel Monks, correspondent of the Combined British Press with the Americans across the Volturno, says: “The Fifth Army has made the pace too hot for the Germans north of the Volturno, and the enemy is withdrawing for fear of being over-run.” “The Fifth Army's smashing assault across the Volturno completely overwhelmed the German defences, and after 4S hours of 'bitter fighting and bridgebuilding it can be said that the battle of the Volturno crossing is won,” writes a correspondent in Italy. “It was a triumph for the British and American combat engineers as much as for the troops who made the initial assault. Till tanks, tank destroyers, antitank guns and light artillery .could be got across the river our troops were sustained only by the sheer weight of their assault. They overran many German machinegun positions in their gallant drive forward, and fighting was fierce throughout the first 24 hours. German self-propelled guns, some of them BS’s, held our infantry up halfway across the river valley till engineers succeeded in getting the first tanks and tank destroyers across.” Navy Takes a Hand. Berlin radio reports that British warships yesterday again bombarded German positions north of the Volturno Estuary. It says that German fighterbombers hit a large warship, which later was seen to be submerged by the stern. A heavy cruiser was also damaged. The effect of the Allied bombing of Capua is shown in the destruction of an armament works and a damaged arsenal and barracks. A terrific artillery concentration over the area resulted in a number of Germans deserting and crossing the river. They stated that their officers’ instructions were that soldiers leaving equipment behind would be shot. Along the British sector anti-tank guns, six-pounders and 17-pounders, continue to be ferried across the river, while tanks are also being transported by landing craft. Other tanks are being waterproofed and forded across. The United Nations radio at -Algiers quotes Marshal Badoglio ns saying that the Italian troops are co-operating with tlie Allied forces in guarding bridges, repairing lines of communication and working on airfields.