LINK-UP ROUND LAKE

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 238, 5 July 1944, Page 5

LINK-UP ROUND LAKE

Advance In Italy LONDON, July 4. The Allied armies in Italy are keeping up their relentless offensive. The Eighth Army has linked up round Lake Trasimene, and the Fifth Army has gained several more miles. German counter-attacks on the Adriatic sector have been repulsed. (By Telegraph.—rress Assn.—Copyright.) LONDON, July 3. Eighth Army’ troops have pushed on at least I's miles in their latest rapid advance west of Lake Trasimeno. says the Exchange Telegraph Agency’s Rome correspondent. After breaking through the German defences west of the Jake, they are sweeping up the Chiena Valley, running north-west to Arezzo. Our tanks and armoured cars took the Germans completely by surprise, preventing them from demolishing three important bridges. The advance was so rapid that one brigade’s headquarters found itself in front of its own elements. General Alexander’s armies at present are driving forward in order to prevent tiie enemy- from settling down in a third delaying position which runs through Arezzo on a line across the Allied advance. A British spearhead entered Foyano, about 10 miles from Arezzo up the Chiana canal. A whole series of towns has ben taken. The Germans on the eastern shores of Lake Trasimeno, who have been faced with a threat on. the flank, have stared pulling back. The Fifth Army captures on the coastal sector include Riparbella, 20 miles south-east of Leghorn. • Elements of 10 German divisions have been identified on the Fifth Army front on the Tuscany coast, where the enemy’ opposition is increasingly violent. The Germans are using self-propelled guns, tanks and mines more extensively.

SIENA FOUND INTACT

Citizens’ Wild Joy Over Liberation LONDON, July 3. A correspondent says that the seen# of enthusiasm as the Allied troops entered the citv of Siena far surpassed the frantic excitement of the greetings of the people of Rome. The correspondent was pulled out of his jeep, and carried to the steps of the famous cathedral. A great crowd poured into the church, where the Archbishop, standing before the altar, rendered thanks that the town and its art treasures had been spared destruction. Tonight the correspondent says, Siena was given over to a great fiesta. The French commander had ordered his troops not to fire a shot inside the city. A German High Command communique states: “We voluntarily withdrew from Siena owing to the danger that the town’s most valuable cultural monuments might be destroyed.” [Though modern Siena’s population is only about 50,000, the city has had considerable importance in the development of Renaissance European culture. The ‘Siena University was founded in 1203, and the Gothic cathedral dates from 1243.]