BATTLE IN BALANCE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 September 1943, Page 3

BATTLE IN BALANCE

BUT SITUATION SHOWING SOME IMPROVEMENT AFTER DAY OF BITTER FIGHTING EIGHTH ARMY ADVANCING SWIFTLY. NOW ONLY 67 MILES FROM SALERNO. (Received This Day, 11.15 a.m.) LONDON, September 15. The Battle of Salerno is still in the .balance this evening, but Allied reinforcements continue to pour in to tip the scales and it was stated at Allied Headquarters, at the end of a day of bitter fighting, that “the situation is a little more to our favour.” Meanwhile the Eighth Army is now only 67 miles from Salerno. The Eighth Army’s push to join up with the Fifth Army may possibly rank as one of the most notable marches in military annals. The British United Press Algiers correspondent says General Montgomery’s men, according to estimates at Allied Headquarters, are expected to be south of Agripoli and fighting in support of the Salerno forces by Friday, but headquarters warns against over-optimism, in view of the possibility of increased opposition en route. The Eighth Army has advanced 24 miles in the past 24 hours. Allied warships are greatly assisting the Fifth Army. The Vichy radio tonight declared that: “The Allied retreat has been definitely slowed down by the intervention of heavy cruisers, which are shelling the German positions.” Despatches from Allied correspondents earlier today told of fierce German attacks and Allied withdrawals on the centre of the Salerno front. The Algiers correspondent of the Columbia Broadcasting Company said the Allied forces had captured some high ground west of Salerno, where the German panzers were making a terrific bid to smash through to the coast. The German threw in wave after wave of their-latest-tanks, coupled with mortar fire, artillery fire and constant ground strafing from the air.