TO GERMANS ON CATANIAN PLAIN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 July 1943, Page 3

TO GERMANS ON CATANIAN PLAIN

Successful Canadian and American Thrusts HEAVY AIR ATTACKS ON SICILIAN COMMUNICATIONS & MAINLAND POLITICAL AND OTHER TALK IN ROME LONDON. July 29. In Sicily, Allied troops have made more progress against the north and centre of the Axis lines. In the centre the Canadians have advanced along a road and captured the town of Agira. This follows on the capture of Leonforte, announced in. an Allied communique. The advance was ma.de in face of fierce resistance and brings the Canadians within eight miles S a lake, which is one of the mainstays of the German defence Nicosia, on another main road, has been captured by the Americans. This information was given by Mr Patterson, United States Under-Secretary for War, who said the advance of the American Seventh Army along the northern coast of Sicily threatened to outflank the enemy’s line.. He made it clear that the battle of Sicily had now entered its final stage and said the conquest of the island should be completed m a brief period. . , x , ... . There is no news of any special activity by the British Eighth Army, which continues to exert unrelenting pressure on the enemy south of Catania and keeps him in nervous dread of fresh developments. , In the air, heavy attacks continue on the enemy s supply lines between Sicily and the mainland and on targets in Southern Italy. In two weeks of the Sicilian campaign, Allied planes from North-West Africa dropped more than 3,000 tons of bombs on Sicily and the Italian mainland. This included 800 tons of bombs on Rome, to which Liberators from the Middle East added another 300 tons, making 11-00 tons of bombs on military targets in Rome in one day. , The Rome radio says Italy will continue to fight, lhe Italian news agency says the Italians are fighting for Europe m the same way that German divisions on the eastern front bar the way to a Bolshevist invasion. Marshal Badoglio has dismissed 21 presets, mostly in North Italy, including those in Milan, Turin and Venice. The Government has also banned all political parties and emblems until the end of the war. No election for the Chamber of Deputies is to be held until 12 months after the war is over. Many Fascist leaders have been arrested as a precautionary measure.