EARLY FLARE-UP

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 October 1943, Page 4

EARLY FLARE-UP

IN THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN BELIEVED TO BE IMMINENT. BUT RAPID ALLIED ADVANCE NOT EXPECTED. (By Telegraph—(Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.14 p.m.) LONDON, October 28. With the first waves of Allied troops storming over hills and along valleys and nearing the outer defences of the Germans’ powerful new mountain line, a flareup of heavy fighting in Italy is believed to be imminent. Despatches from Algiers , state that German resistance is already increasing as the Allied front is punched steadily forward. The Bari radio declared that the hour is approaching when the Allied troops will make contact with the bulk of the German forces in italy. Summing up the present stage of the battle, a military commentator at Allied Headquarters said: “It is futile to expect rapid advances in the increasingly difficult terrain the Allied armies are now entering. This part of Italy is no country for a blitzkrieg smash, under heavy air support. ..It just cannot be done.” In the western sector, where the German news agency admitted that the Americans have brought up fresh reinforcements and are increasing theii break through efforts, the battle is becoming fiercer. The Bari radio stated that Venafro is now directly threatened and that the Allies arc nearing the town. The Fifth Army, with the capture of Riardo, completed the clearing of a mountain ridge ten miles north of Capua, says Reuter’s Algiers correspondent. .The Americans are now only one mile from the main road to Rome. A determined German stand is expected in this area, where the Americans have punched a salient into German-held positions in the foothills. Riardo is situated on heights in the Upper Volturno ’Valley, about eleven miles north of Capua, in the path of the Fifth Army's advance towards Venafro.