ITALIAN CAMPAIGN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 October 1943, Page 3

ITALIAN CAMPAIGN

GOING WELL BUT SLOWLY GENERAL ALEXANDER’S SURVEY. BIG DIVERSION OF GERMAN FORCES. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 11.15 a.m.) RUGBY, October 24. “The Italian campaign is going well but slowly,” declared General Alexander to war correspondents at his headquarters in Italy on Sunday. “It has not gone as quickly as one would have liked,” he continued, “because one always wants to get to Rome as quickly as possible. They say all roads lead .to Rome, but today all those roads are mined. It has also been said that he who holds Rome holds the hearts of the Italian people, but we need Rome strategically as well.” General Alexander said the Italian campaign was the continuation of a series of body blows against the Germans begun at El Alamein. He declared that the Italian campaign had forced the Germans to bring troops into Italy and the Balkans which would otherwise have been available for use in Russia. It was his estimate that as a result of the Italian collapse the Germans had committed between 30 and 40 divisions to Italy and the Balkans. He described the campaign so far as slow slogging up Italy. Reviewing the campaign to date, he said the total casualties of the Fifth and Eighth armies were about 15,000, including 8000 British and 6000 Americans with the Fifth Army, and a thousand British or Empire troops with the Eighth Army. The plan for the Salerno landing was a very good one, General Alexander said, but the Germans were able to react quickly and to throw in greater forces. The enemy had concentrated four divisions round the bridgehead, operating from fixed bases, whereas our forces only had the sea at their backs. The situation there on September 15 was exceedingly critical, but General Clark had handled his army extremely well We had turned on all our air forces and also naval guns, and that had saved the day. A contributory factor was the Eighth Army’s capture of Potenza and the landing at Taranto, which threatened the German flank. The Germans had been reinforcing all the time since we landed in Italy. General Alexander stated that there

were seven divisions holding the line in front of our forces and that, according to Italian sources, the Germans were building a strong line in the north. The Germans were still using two commanders, Kesselring in the south, and Rommel in the north. Questioned abo'ut the assistance Italy will be able to give the Allies, General Alexander said the Germans had disarmed a large number of Italians as soon as the armistice was announced. We.were using Italian troops at the moment to assist in labour work. The Carabinieri had been doing a very good job in keeping law and order in the country, thereby saving the employment of a lot of troops.