SHELLED & BOMBED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 July 1943, Page 3

SHELLED & BOMBED

BY ALLIED WARSHIPS & AIRCRAFT ENEMY LINES OF RETREAT FROM CATANIA. AXIS FIGHTING FOR DELAY AND TO CUT LOSSES. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, July 21. Allied warships and planes are now constantly shelling and bombing the enemy’s two last roads of retreat from Catania, says Reuter’s Algiers correspondent. Naval forces are steadily bombarding the Cat-ania-Messina coastal road, which skirts the eastern slopes of Mt. Etna, while the air forces are bombarding Randazzo, on the other line of retreat round the western slopes of Etna. “Military opinion in London is unanimous that the Axis is attempting to cut its losses in Sicily,” says the “Daily Mail’s” military correspondent. “The supply difficulties alone must prevent the enemy from hoping to stem the Allies’ steady advance. The purpose of the Axis is now twofold: First, to cover the retreat of their main forces; and, secondly, to fight as long a delaying action as possible. “All the ' news from the battlefront fits into this picture. On the western sector reports from Algiers all speak of mass enemy retirements toward the northern coastal road to Messina. On the eastern sector, on the other hand, the port of Catania and the neighbouring air base at Gerbini are being defended with increasing stubbornness. The enemy knows that the fate of any evacuation must depend on his ability to deny these excellent facilities to the Allies; his entire forces in Sicily would: be trapped if he yielded this vital sector.”

ALLIED ORDER DISSOLUTION OF FASCIST PARTY. CONDITIONS OF MILITARY RULE. LONDON, July 21. A correspondent reports that a proclamation has been posted in Modica and other towns in Sicily over the signature of General Alexander stating: “The Fascist Party is to be dissolved and all discriminatory laws and decrees are to be annulled. The municipal authorities and those engaged in public services are asked to continue in their duties.” The proclamation explains the necessity for military occupation and military governorship but it explains: “We are not warring on civilians.” Allied victory in Sicily will mean that Britain must export 50,000 to 80,000 tons of coal a week to Sicily to run the captured towns. HEAVY RAID ON MALTA FIRST FOR MANY MONTHS. RUGBY, July 20. Malta’s anti-aircraft fire was almost continuous for an hour early today when Axis raiders carried out the first concentrated attack for many months. Bombs fell over a wide area, causing civilian damage.

OF GOOD AUGURY SUCCESS OF THE INVASION OF SICILY. CANADIAN GENERAL CONFIDENT. LONDON, July 21. General McNaughton, Commander of the Canadian Army overseas, who has returned to North Africa after a visit to Canadian troops in Sicily, stated in an interview that the Allied landing in Sicily must shake the Japanese. “The enemy knows that overwhelming force can be brought to bear whenever and wherever the Allied leaders give the order. The Sicilian operation is the most perfect example of combined operations. It is an augury for the future, telling of the tremendous power that will strike the enemy.”