IMPORTANT HEIGHTS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 December 1943, Page 4

IMPORTANT HEIGHTS

DOMINATING THE ROAD TO ROME CAPTURED BY THE FIFTH ARMY. FOLLOWING ON VERY HEAVY BOMBARDMENT. (British Official Wireless.) ’ (Received This Day, 10.30 a.m.) RUGBY, December 5. < A special communique issued by General Eisenhower’s Headquarters this afternoon says three of the,most important heights of the Mount Camino area are now in Allied hands. It also states that troops of the Fifth Army have broken into strong German positions cn Mount Camino and Mount Maggiore. The Mount Camino heights, which have been captured, were the principal anchor points in the German defence line. They were the main objectives of the Allies in their effort to open the road to Rome. The Allied attack on these two points began on December 2, when hundreds of Allied guns only a few yards apart subjected them to a shattering fire. The Fifth Army now holds positions dominating the southeast corner of the Cassino Plain. A correspondent details German divisions now in line against the Eighth and Fifth armies. Against the Eighth there are the 26th. 90th Panzer Division (formerly known as the Ninetieth Light Infantry Division), the Ist Panzer Division; and the 65th Infantry Division. Five divisions are pitted against the Fifth Army—two second panzer divisions (the 15th and 29th), and three infantry divisions (the 44th, 305th and 94th). The Hermann Goering Third Division, which has lost heavily in recent combats, is believed to be held in reserve, with another. BATTLE FOR SAN VITO. Street fighting went on in the streets of San Vito yesterday morning, when the Germans made a desperate effort to hold this town on the Adriatic coast, states a war correspondent with the Eighth Army. The enemy had* blown up bridges and nut down mines on the approaches to San Vito, but sappers, Working through the night, found a way for tanks to get through, and shortly after dawn, tanks supported our infantry when they went in to attack the toWn. The Germans tried using mortars and field guns as our forces swept, into San Vito, but tanks, with infantry riding on them, rumbled down the streets, wiping out nests of mach-ine-gunners and snipers in the upper stories of houses. Suddenly enemy firing stopped, and the remaining 40 unwounded Germans walked out and surrendered. The capture of San Vito has brought our forces within 15 miles of Pescara.