PORTENTS SEEN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 September 1943, Page 4

PORTENTS SEEN

OF IMPENDING LANDING IN NAPLES AREA SEVENTH ARMY REPORTED TO BE ON ITS WAY. PLANES BATTERING AIRFIELDS & RAILWAYS. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) (Received This Day, 11.25 a.m.) LONDON, September 6. A terrific air assault on the Naples area in the past 24 hours is regarded as suggesting the softening process which is characteristic of the Allies’ usual invasion tactics. The British United Press correspondent at Madrid, quoting reliable reports from Rome, says the American Seventh Army left African ports last night and is now afloat in the Mediterranean for an unknown destination, believed to be in the vicinity of Naples. Air attacks on targets around Naples are continuing night and day and are particularly directed against airfields and railways. Reuter’s Algiers correspondent states that Flying- Fortresses, in a short but savage raid yesterday, put out of action the Viterbo Airfield, north of Naples. Thousands of fragmentation bombs fell among dispersed planes, many of which were destroyed or damaged. Photographs taken shortly after the raid showed three hangars damaged and the airfield severely pock-marked by explosives. The Flying Fortresses shot down a considerable number of enemy fighters from three attacking formations.

Meanwhile Marauders and Mitchells hammered the secondary airfield of Grazzanise, near Naples. The air crews observed three large explosions and also several wrecked planes. Escorting Lightnings shot down two of ten attacking fighters. Mitchells near Minturna, 40 miles north-west of Naples, attacked another secondary airfield and scored direct hits on two railway bridges and on tracks.

The onslaught on the Naples area was continued last night, when Wellingtons dropped incendiaries on the vital railway junction of Villa Literno, v/hich was busy with traffic en route to Naples along the coastline from Rome. Two-ton block-busters were followed by incendiaries. One crashed in the centre of eighteen lines of rails. Another big bomb burst between a power-station and a repair shop. Fires clearly revealed smashed rolling stock. All this was one day’s destruction in one. area, but raids occurred in other parts of Italy and Sardinia.

EIGHTH ARMY ADVANCING AT GOOD PACE. WITHOUT TAKING UNWISE RISKS. (Received This Day, 12.10 p.m.) LONDON, September 6. The Eighth Army has now made contact with the Germans and its advance up the toe of Italy continues at a good pace, says the Exchange Telegraph Agency’s correspondent, in a dispatch from Bagnara yesterday. He adds that the Germans are carrying out their Sicilian tactics of blowing up bridges wherever possible, and also making road demolitions. Our infantry, despite the heat, are “going great guns.” In some places they are advancing on foot, leaving the vehicles to catch up after sappers have repaired bridges and diverted road blockades. Our troops, pushing inland, are also making really excellent progress. Units were advancing through a gully, when Germans on a hill opened up with self-propelled eighty-eight millimetre mortars. The British dug in, returned the fire and sent up patrols as soon as darkness fell. The patrols found that the Germans had pulled out. Our columns thereupon advanced speedily, but were unable to gain contact with the enemy. Our advance up the coast was assisted by commandos, who landed at Bagnara earlier and drove the Germans cut, after a short, fierce fight in which they killed many and took about 40 prisoners. Our main force linked up with the commandos in Bagnara at midday. The main body of infantry had then advanced 32 miles from the landing point in 32 hours —good going in view of the fact that it was mostly made on foot.

A_ Canadian Press representative, cabling from South Italy yesterday, reported that Canadians, working their way through the most mountainous part of South-West Italy, had encountered some light enemy opposition usually confined to mortars firing a few shots at extreme range. The Canadians thus far have not been engaged in any close .infantry combat. Explaining what he called the comparatively slow progress of the Eighth Army, the Exchange Telegraph Agency’s Algiers correspondent says: “General Montgomery expects to go a long way, so the question of his lines of communication is vitally important. It would be foolish to take extensive risks and then fall suddenly upon a formidable force with which we should be unable to deal because of lacking necessary supplies of ammunition and other essential equipment for an army on the move.”

GRUDGING ADMISSIONS MADE BY BERLIN RADIO. EXPECTATION OF FURTHER LANDINGS. (Received This Day, 11.25 a.m.) LONDON, September 6. The Berlin radio admits that the Axis forces have evacuated Southern Calabria. The radio says: ‘‘The British, in the southern tip of the Calabrian Peninsula, are following the movements of the Axis forces only with hesitation, despite a great superiority in men and equipment. The British Command apparently is trying to spare its forces as much as possible, in order to avoid the grave tactical mistakes committed in Sicily, when the British suffered unusually great losses. The invasion forces no doubt are afraid of falling into ambushes in the mountains. They are probing their way against Axis covering units with the greatest caution. Therefore the Italian and German military authorities carried out the evacuation of Southern Calabria according to plan, in complete calm, and moved all supplies to places of safety.

The civilian population was also evacuated in complete order. The Allies at present have one tank division and two infantry divisions in the southern tip of the peninsula. The British Command seems to have prepared here for major fighting operations and to have aimed at gaining much ground, after they had seen that they had failed in their intention of pinning down considerable German forces by their landing in Southern Calabria. “All the indications are,” the Berlin radio adds, “that another large-scale British and American landing operation must be expected soon at another point in the Mediterranean area. An attempt may be expected to gain control of Sardinia or Corsica, aided by powerful naval units, in order to secure a springboard against the Italian mainland, or Southern France. We also may expect an operation directly aimed against Central Italy and possibly an operation against the Apulia Peninsula, which, because of its geographical position on the Adriatic Sea, is of a certain interest.” The Rome radio today declared that: “One of the doors of the European fortress is open and the enemy is streaming in. The Allies thus far have, had it all their own way and are making full use of their overwhelming material superiority. Additional invasions will come soon. The British and Americans are using only a fraction of their forces in Calabria and have great concentrations of men and material in Sicily and North Africa.”