END OF AXIS RESISTANCE IN SICILY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 August 1943, Page 3

END OF AXIS RESISTANCE IN SICILY

Patrols of American Seventh Army First to Enter City ALLIED GUNS NOW ENGAGING MAINLAND BATTERIES / AIR AND NAVAL ATTACKS ON ENEMY COMMUNICATIONS IN TOE OF ITALY. LONDON, August 17. The fall of Messina has brought all enemy resistance in Sicily to an end. The American and British armies have made contact and the Allies are pounding enemy transport and communications on the Italian mainland. . Prior to- the entry into Messina, both American and British troops landed from the sea behind the lines of enemy forces then still resisting on the approaches to the city. The United Nations radio at Algiers states that Messina was occupied this morning. The occupation was preceded by a violent bombardment. Patrols of the Third Division of the United States Seventh Army were the first to enter the city. The British United Press correspondent says there was practically no resistance inside Messina. While the Americans advanced on the town from the north, the Eighth Army approached from the south. . A reporter with the Canadian Army says the only thing that held up the Eighth Army was the heavy mining of the only available road. Allied artillery is now reported to be engaging coastal batteries on the Italian mainland, The last German troops were evacuated at dawn this morning and the enemy’s intense anti-aircraft fire is mow greatly lesesned. Allied air and naval forces are keeping up their day and night attacks on the enemy’s line of communications in the toe of Italy. Wellington bombers attacked an airfield north of Rome and Liberators one north-east of Naples. The Liberators shot down 43 of 100 enemy fighters which tried to interfere. Of the 43 destroyed, only eight were Italian. Roads, bridges and railways were attacked by medium bombers from a height of 300 feet. Many clumps of cars were left burning where traffic became jammed. NINE ENEMY SHIPS SUNK ' Nine more enemy vessels have been sunk by British submarines off the coast of Italy and Corsica. They included an Italian minesweeper, a transport and a large supply ship. AIR ATTACKS ON MARSEILLES The Allied Air Force Headquarters in the Mediterranean states that today a large formation of Flying Fortresses attacked airfields in the Marseilles district of Southern France. No further details of the raid have come in so far.