VOLTURNO LINE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 63, Issue 309, 9 October 1943, Page 3

VOLTURNO LINE

CONSOLIDATION OF GAINS, SERIES OF TOWNS OCCUPIED. FOUR DAYS’ BITTER FIGHTING. (N.Z. Press Association —Copyright.) (Rec. 1.20 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. S. The sth Army has swiftly consolidated the positions gained by the capture of Capua by the occupation of a series of towns on the Voiturno River line, says a frontline dispatch. It is revealed that the Germans fought fiercely for positions on the river bank. The Americans flung back powerful counter-attacks and clung to their captures in the heaviest fighting of the week.

The stli Army now holds 17 miles of the south bank of the Voiturno, from Capua to the sea. Over the last 10 miles’ advance to the Voiturno the sth Army fought through heavily water-logged country. Conditions are becoming worse with every”day of the autumn rains. Nearly four days’ bitter fighting was necessary before enemy nests of resistance between Aversa and the Voiturno River were smashed.