DEEP PENETRATION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 December 1943, Page 4

DEEP PENETRATION

OF GERMAN DEFENCE ZONE IN ITALY FIFTH ARMY ACHIEVEMENT. TWO ENEMY LINES SMASHED. (By. Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright) (Received This Day. 12.55 p.m.) LONDON, December 21. The. Fifth Army has fought nearly half-way through Marshal Kesselring’s western winter defence line, penetrating more than 16 miles of the enemy’s 40 miles deep defences, says a Reuter correspondent. The enemy’s winter line is really a series of defence positions, stretching roughly north-west from Teanc, at the northern end of the Volturno Plain, to Frosinone, which is the real gateway to Rome. The German defence lines, resting on natural features of mountain and river, of which the Germans are making skilful use, do not form a static pattern. They are frequently .altered to meet the changing direction of the Allied pressure. The Allies have smashed the first two of these lines, and the Germans are falling back to a new line, pivoting on Mount Aurinci, overlooking the Gulf of Gaeta and stretching roughly northwards to Cassino.