GERMANS IN ITALY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 October 1943, Page 3

GERMANS IN ITALY

FALLING BACK ON NEW LINE SOUTH OF ROME Fierce Fighting in Central and Adriatic Areas STRONG COUNTER-ATTACKS REPELLED BY EIGHTH ARMY ALLIED BOMBERS CUT COAST RAILWAY AND ROAD LONDON, October 20. In Italy, the Germans are retreating all along the line in front of the Fifth Army. Before leaving, they are demolishing houses, killing cattle, blowing up roads and railways, layingmines and harassing the advancing Allied troops with artillery fire. The enemy is making a full-scale but orderly withdrawal to the hills at the northern end of the coastal plains. A correspondent states that there is every sign that the enemy’s next line of organised resistance will be on the southern slopes of these hills, where he is establishing himself in strength. The hills begin on,the coast and run to the east, where they attain a height of 2,500 feet. All the roads to Rome pass through these hills, in big mountain valleys overlooked by hills on either side. The fiercest fighting at present is on the central sector, where the Germans are making strenuous efforts to stop the Allied advance towards one of the main pivots of the new defence line. The Eighth Army is pushing forward in the hills and heavy fighting is reported on the right flank, where the British troops are drawing closer to the enemy defences on the Adriatic coast. The Germans have been reinforced and have launched a good many strong counter-,attacks, all of which have been repelled. The Eighth Army has advanced and captured a coastal town.

Allied aircraft continue their attacks on roads, railways, key positions and airfields behind the enemy’s line. A force of Liberators, in a lightning 30-minute attack, cut the Adriatic coast railway and blocked the road running alongside.