STREAMING IN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 September 1943, Page 4

STREAMING IN

ALLIED TROOPS & SUPPLIES PROBLEMS FOR GERMANS. IN ESTABLISHING DEFENSIVE LINE. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 1.20 p.m.) LONDON, September 12. Through the captured ports of Southern Italy are streaming Allied troops, munitions and supplies. The traffic will soon be helped by Italian shipping and will have a further assurance of safety from the Italian Fleet, says “The Times” Algiers correspondent. The air war position is also changing fast, as the Apulian Plain is studded with airfields within 150 miles of Naples. For the Germans, despite all Hitler has said, there is occurring a very significant change of fortune. Germany’s armies in Southern Italy are threatened from three sides and see their communications destroyed by Allied bombers. They know, too, that the Italians working on these communications now oppose the Germans, at least passively. They also know that they may lose the use of coastal seaborne traffic. Even the Adriatic is no longer safe from our warships or amphibious expeditions. The Germans, if they attempt a stand on any line south of Naples and Bari, either are very sure of themselves or are very desperate. The capture of Brindisi, by land forces from Taranto, not only brings two major Italian ports into our possession, but must imply that the Otranto Peninsula, with its airfields, will be ours as soon as we have landed enough troops for its occupation. Our troops from Taranto fanned out northwards and made contact with enemy troops of the Ist German Parachute Division. Our troops, therefore, are about halfway to Gioja, where there is an excellent airfield. The Naples bridgehead is safely established and reinforcements and supplies are being landed ahead of schedule. Opposition in the Naples area is ferocious, as it must be if the Germans are to win time for the evacuation of men and supplies from Southern Italy and the establishment of a defence line wherever they consider the rugged Italian peninsulat offer, the best chance. “The Germans,” “The Times” correspondent continues, “apparently are ready for an Allied attack and the fighting is particularly fierce on the southern beaches. Numerous counterattacks along this front have been repulsed, sometimes with the aid of the Navy. Penetration over the whole front averages a depth of about four miles. The position in the Naples area gen-

erally is good, but no rapid advance northwards is possible until the position southwards is more strongly consolidated and fighter airfields are in operation. The Eighth Army made striking progress at the weekend, reaching the waist of Calabria. Opposition here is slight and difficulty is experienced in maintaining contact with the enemy. The total advance from Reggio is flow 75 miles. The next stage is likely to present greater difficulties, if the enemy offers strong resistance, because the peninsula broadens and the mountains form a broad block and only along the shore eastward is there any lowland which is fairly open. The Allies’ greatest hope of a speedy advance lies in the fact that the Germans dare not delay, for fear of what is happening elsewhere.”