CATANIA PORT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 August 1943, Page 3

CATANIA PORT

VIRTUALLY UNSCATHED BY BOMBING

WILL BE OF GREAT VALUE TO ALLIES.

TOGETHER WITH ADDITIONAL AIRFIELDS.

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 10.35 a.m.) LONDON, August 5. Allied precision bombing smashed military targets in Catania, but left the city itself virtually tinscathed. A R.A.F. pilot told an Associated Press of Great Britain correspondent at Allied headquarters that the newly-built port facilities, which will be of immense value to Allied shipping, were untouched. The airman said a 350 foot long merchantman was found blasted up against the side of the Vecchio Mole. An Italian tank-landing craft and ferry, sunk across the centre of the port, were fresh evidence of power and accuracy of the Allied bombing. The Catania marshalling yards were littered with deep bomb craters. Two large sheds were shattered and three lines of rail

tracks lay torn and twisted, from direct hits. The building housing the Fascist Party headquarters was damaged by blast and an administrative building in Catania had taken a direct hit from a heavy bomb. The capture of Catania has given the Allies additional airfields, from which they will be able to step up the attack against the Italian mainland. The Axis forces in Sicily have now only one port—Messina.