DRIVE ON PESCARA

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 December 1943, Page 4

DRIVE ON PESCARA

EIGHTH ARMY PROGRESS IN ITALY SOME RIVER BARRIERS AHEAD NEW ZEALANDERS ADVANCING SLOWLY (By Telegraph—(Press Association— Copyright) (Received This Day, 1.15 p.m.) LONDON, December 29. The Canadians, after the capture of Ortona, have already moved up tanks and smashed German paratroops from the next hamlet northward, says the British United Press Algiers correspondent. Spearheads of the Eighth Army are now less than ten miles from Pescara. There are several more river barriers before Pescara, but no German stand comparable to that before Ortona is expected before Pescara is reached. The Germans are still holding out at Villagrande, 2i miles south-west of Ortona, although the village was reported earlier to be in our hands. The village is about a mile long and the houses lie in clusters about 300 yards apart. The Indians must clean out each cluster as they move through the village. The New Zealanders are moving forward slowly to cut the road from Orsogna to Guardriagrele. This new drive threatens Orsogna, which British troops took earlier, but lost on Christmas Eve. A Reuter correspondent reports that German batteries opened up against the ruins of Ortona a few hours after their evacuation. Reports from Algiers indicate that the enemy attack against British Fifth Army units near the mouth of the Gariglione River, mentioned in a communique, took place at Pontafiume, just inland on the south bank of the river. Grim fighting occurred, but the Fifth Army troops held their own.