Germans Baulked and Weakened by Casualties

Manawatu Times, Volume 69, Issue 55, 8 March 1944, Page 5

Germans Baulked and Weakened by Casualties

(By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright.) Received Wednesday, 12.59 a.m. LONDON, March 7. Patrol activity both in the beachhead and the main fifth Army front is reported in the latest communique from Advanced Headquarters in Italy. Sharp clashes occurred at Cassino. Indians from the Eighth Army repulsed two small enemy attacks, inflicting casualties. The general overcast weather yesterday continued to hamper air operations. Fighter-bombers attacked gun positions north of the beachhead, also roads and railways near Rome, shipping off the Dalmatian coast and communications in Yugoslavia. Fighters flew battleline patrols. Three of our planes are missing. The Allies flew 600 sorties. No enemy air activity was reported over the battle area. Baulked in every attempt to gain ground, and weakened by casualties, the Germans have slackened off their land and aerial activity around the Anzio beachhead, and even their longrange shelling has declined in intern sity, says Reuter’s correspondent with the Fifth Army. It is stated authoritatively that the German attempts to drive the Allies from the beachhead have cost them about 24,000 casualties. The Allied troops in the beachhead captured 3500, while a high percentage of the remainder were killed, the artillery taking a particularly heavy toll. A heavy concentration of Allied artillery and mortars quickly smashed up a small German attack against the Americans in the Cisterna area yesterday, adds Reuter. Three spirited patrol actions occurred on the main Fifth Army front northeast of Cassino, where the French dealt effectively with German attacks. Canadians on the Eighth Army front, despite continuous rain, overran an enemy post five miles inland from Ortona.