ARMIES SMASH FORWARD

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 196, 17 May 1944, Page 7

ARMIES SMASH FORWARD

Now Deep Inside Nazi Defences CAMPAIGN IN ITALY

LONDON, May 16. The Allied armies in Italy have kept up the impetus of their attack against the northern sector of the Gustav Line. Today’s communique states that while the Eighth Army bridgehead over the Rapido River has again been extended, the French troops of the Fifth Army have made a further advance in the mountains to the south. All organized German resistance has ceased along a road which runs north and south through Ausoma, the capture of which by the French was announced yesterday. In the south the Americans have captured a town inland from the coast. An American and a British cruiser have taken turns in shelling enemy coastal positions.

A correspondent says that the Rapido River bridgehead is now two miles deep. The French, on the latest reports, have captured three more villages and at one point are eight miles beyond the starting-point of the offensive. The fighting on the southern sector seems to have quietened down for the moment THREE-DAY PUSH Allies Knocking At Hitler Line • LONDON, May 15. Fanning out through 60 miles of rugged Italian country, intersected by the rivers and valleys which they control after three days of fierce fighting, the troops of the Fifth and Eighth Armies hqre advanced to new positions with heroic French troops well to the front, says the correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain at the Allied headquarters. The French forces under General Juin, some of whom are seven miles from their starting-point; are now battering their why to the top of hills dominating San Giorgio, in the Liri Valley, and by nightfall today were pressing to the Liri River. American troops fightifig on their left, meanwhile inched across the important Ausonia. the former highway toward commanding heights beyond, while the Eighth Army to the right deepened the. bridgehead over the Rapido River to 2000 yards. Thus the Allied troops in 72 hours of fighting against a foe who had been digging in for months has nearly erased from the map the segment of the Gustav Line extending from Cassino to the sea coast 18 miles away. Americans, Frenchmen, British, New Zealanders, Poles and Gurkhas pressed forward side by side. “Germans Withdrawing.” Heavy artillery directed by R.A.F. pilot spotters backed up the French troops who went along rivers and over ridges in the wake of probing tanks. They took Ausbnia and San Ambrogio and a number of other points to the north and east before closing in on San Giorgio, four miles north of Ausonia. Algiers radio later stated’ that the French troops captured San Giorgio and are approaching Monte Cairo, the northern extremity of the Adolf Hitler Line. They have by-passed and encircled Terelle. north-east of Monte Cairo. [The Adolf Hitler Line is reported to extend from the area east of Roccasecca through Esperia, which is five miles northwest of Ausonia. Monte Cairo, mentioned as the northern extremity of the line, is about seven miles north-west of Cassino.] The “Daily Express” correspondent says that the French troops of the Fifth Army, after smashing for seven miles through the Gustav Line, reported tonight that they were bringing up guns to shell the fortress of Esperia, which is one of the bolt positions of the Adolf Hitler Line. General de Gaulle told the Consultative Assembly at Algiers that the German withdrawal in Italy was becoming increasingly apparent on the French front and that the enemy was going back > in disorder.

By-Passing Cassino. Troops of the Eighth Army, after reputing enemy counter-attacks south of Cassino, pushed forward parallel to Highway 6, which is the main inland road to Rome. The Allies have captured 120 men of the German Parachute Division defending Cassino. Our tanks and infantry advancing south-west of San Angelo are finding the going most difficult. The Germans are using tanks and self-propelled guns all along the Liri Valley front. The enemy defending Cassino are threatened b.v the latest Allied advances between Cassino and San Angelo, says the British United Press correspondent with the Fifth Army. The attack on this sector has developed more slowly than at other points ■ because of difficulties in bridging the Rapido River, but once the Sherman tanka were across they helped the infantry to overrun considerable parts of the German line. The Germans are still fighting in the ruins of Castelforte. Enemy artillery at the same time is heavily shelling the town. Two-third® of Field-Marshal Kesselring’s Gustav Line is now torn to ribbons, says Reuter’s correspondent at Allied headquarters in Italy. There are indications that the Germans are reinforcing their defences in the Liri Valley, but it is doubtful whether fresh support can be pushed in quickly enough to save the fastcrumbling defence line. The British troops in the Liri Valley, spearheaded by tanks, today cut an important road about two miles below Cassino. The Eighth Army bridgeheads’ are being steadily widened and deepened and may soon threaten Highway 6, leading to Rome. The German garrisons in the town of Cassino and ■on Monastery Hill are in danger of being Isolated if Highway 6 is cut. ‘'The Times” correspondent declares that the offensive of the Fifth and Eighth Armies is surpassing the best expectations. Cassino, with Monastery Hill, is now virtually by-passed, and must soon fall like a ripe pear. Defence System Weakened.

Reuter's correspondent says that with breaches in the southern half of the Gustav Line Kesselring's whole primary defensive system has been disjointed and has lost some of its defensive value, and that ■the rents now being torn by the Eighth Army in the Liri Valley will be widened and deepened when the Germans are forced to fall back to their secondary defences. While the Americans have sealed up the lower exit, from the Au'sente Vallsr. the French, by the capture of Ansonia, have closed the exit from the valley to the north. It is not known how many of the enemy are in the valley or how many succeeded in escaping. Our tanks are finding the going difficult because of the soft terrain, which bogs them down. This has proved a greater handicap than enemy artillery and tanks. Mines are less numerous than was expected. Cassino has been relatively quiet since the start of the attack, and fighting died down completely there yesterday. The Fifth Army, in overrunning the front-line positions of the 71st German Division, which was wiped out once before nt Stalingrad, took 1200 prisoners, including six battalion commanders, out of the total of 2000 prisoners taken so far in the Allies’ offensive.