IMPORTANT GAINS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 October 1943, Page 4

IMPORTANT GAINS

MADE BY ALLIED ARMIES IN ITALY ON APPROACH TO MOUNTAIN BARRIER f EXTENDING CONTROL OVER ROADS (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.30 p.m.) LONDON, October 29. Though both the Allied armies in Italy are hampered by heavy rain as they slowly thrust forward, taking up positions for a major blow at the mountain barriers to Rome, three important gains have been made in the past 24 hours, Reuter’s Algiers correspondent reports. In the centre, General Montgomery's left flank, by the capture of Molise, 12 miles north-west of Campobasso, is now very close to the core of the German defence system. Molise gives the Eighth Army control of an important secondary road through the mountains. On their left flank, the Americans east of the Massico ridge, have driven a wedge into the German positions, throwing the main weight of their offensive towards the road junction of Teano. The Americans, by their latest advance of three miles, have won ground from which they are able to menace this junction, which is the centre of a road system between the twin Rome highways. On the right flank of the Eighth- Army, the coastal force which captured Montefalcone has seized a new crossing of the Trigno River, in face of fierce opposition. The British now threaten San salvo, the German defence centre in this sector. The Germans on the north bank of the Trigno, east of Sansalvo, are still offering a stiff resistance. The Exchangeo Telegraph Agency’s Algiers correspondent says the Eighth Army is threatening the German positions on high ground between the Trigno bridgehead and the Adriatic. The Canadians are engaged in heavy fighting near Molishe, 2,600 feet above sea level. The German news agency claims another “almost classic success" in the German withdrawal from the Volturno sector as a result of “delaying defence,” in face of Allied numerical superiority. The Paris radio says General Clark has concentrated the main body of his forces north of Riardo, where the Fifth Army is only one mile from the main inland road to Rome. The Vichy radio says severe fighting is raging on the western sector. The Allies in several places breached the German lines, but the Germans sealed them off and inflicted heavy losses.