WITHIN A WEEK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 August 1943, Page 3

WITHIN A WEEK

SMASHING DEFEAT Ob’ AXIS • IN SICILY . ANTICIPATED IN LONDON ITALIAN FLEET REMAINING IN PORT. ißy Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) LONDON, August 4. Military circles in London consider that the Sicilian campaign will end within a week with a smashing defeat of the Axis. The Allied air and naval forces are tightening their grip on the Straits of Messina, and the enemy’s chance of staging a successful evacuation is regarded as very slight. The bag of prisoners is expected to be very considerable. There are three German divisions —the 15th Panzer, the Hermann Goering, and the 29th Motorized —in addition to a scratch force which is about equivalent to another division, made up of odds and ends of German personnel such as parachutists, and Luftwaffe ground staffs, and also there are two disorganised Italian division'*, which are apparently regarded as not lit for the front line, and are largely relegated to the role of labour battalions and line of communications troops.

Reports from the front indicate that General Alexander’s offensive has already achieved marked success. The American and Canadian thrusts have disorganised the whole of the north sector of the enemy line, which is reeling back and crumbling under he repealed heavy attacks. The Allies have made such rapid progress in the north that the German command faces the grim alternative of an immediate withdrawal from the Etna positions or the probability of encirclement. The completeness of the Allied naval superiority is demonstrated by the fact that the Allied navies not only control the lonian Sea but also are operating in force in the Tyrrhenian Sea, Which is supposed to be guarded by the strongest squadron of the Italian fleet. This squadron, comprising at least three effective modern loin, gun battleships, has elected to remain at Spezia, SGO miles to the north, while British cruisers and destroyers move at will into the Gulf of Sante Ufemia, bombarding vital communications on the mainland without interference.