READY TO STRIKE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 August 1943, Page 4

READY TO STRIKE

DRAMATIC DEVELOPMENTS LIKELY CONCENTRATION OF ALLIED LANDING CRAFT. REPORTED BY THE GERMANS. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 10.50 a.m.) LONDON, August 19. Allied military plans which will affect the whole course of the war may be put into execution this week-end, says Reuter’s military correspondent. The Allied staffs in conference in Quebec have had the time to complete their strategical plans in the smallest detail. The plans only await the final approval of Mr Churchill and President Roosevelt, after which dramatic developments can be expected immediately. The Allies are ready to strike when and where they please. It is not disclosing secrets to say that Sicily affords a magnificent springboard for the Italian mainland. Welltrained armies, flushed by victory, are on their toes waiting the word to go. The Germans report that the Calabrian beaches are mined and all harbour facilities have been destroyed, but it is taking a very narrow view of Allied vision, daring to imagine that their plans involve only the same narrow strip of water the Germans found helpful for evacuation. Operations farther north would give the Allies room for manoeuvre and an opportunity to employ their crushing superiority of armour, which was not fully utilisable in Sicily because of the unsuitable terrain. The whole world hangs on the Quebec decisions. The suspense will soon be over. The Berlin radio stated that German reconnaissance planes have reported a great concentration of Allied landing craft in Bizerta harbour, with strong naval formations. The Algiers radio said continuous gunfire from the tip of Sicily has crushed several enemy batteries on the Calabrian coast. The Allied fleets completely control the waters around Sicily. They are shelling troop concentations and gun positions on the Italian mainland.