THIRTEEN DAYS TOO LATE

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 200, 22 May 1944, Page 5

THIRTEEN DAYS TOO LATE

Kesselring’s Date For Allied Push (British Official Wireless.) (Received May 21, 7 p.m.) RUGBY, May 20. Bad generalship ou the part of FieldMarshal Kesselring contributed to the collapse of the German forces south of Liri, writes a Naples correspondent. Kesselring’s intelligence staff were obviously guessing as to the Allies’ intentions, as an order of the day to the German troops, taken from a prisoner, says: “An enemy offensive will start. We are prepared. From May 24 at midnight be on the alert to fight.” The selection of Empire Day for the opening of the offensive was obviously pure guesswork and was 13 days too late. It is also evident that Kesselring failed entirely to appreciate the strength, of the forces opposing him. Looking at the battle in retrospect, the generalship of Alexander was vastly superior. His tactics throughout have been to pin the enemy down and destroy him. Furthering this plan, the Eighth Army north of Cassino was involved in the battle, but played a large part in preventing a withdrawal of the German forces to support the main battle, and the Allied forces at the Anzio beachhead contributed to the pinning down of several German divisions facing them. The correspondent adds: “The German propaganda is busy trying to persuade the world that there is no such thing as the Hitler Line, and prisoners declare it has been renamed by the High Command the Dora Line. The name ‘Adolf Hitler, apparently has been transferred to some other line still to be discovered further north, thus’evading serious loss of prestige. Obviously the name can be used continuously till the line coincides wilh the Unter den Linden. “It is an established fact that the Hitler Line was first observed in December across the Liri Valley between Piedmonte and Pontecorvo, since when it has been extended.”