NAZIS LEAVING

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 63, Issue 310, 11 October 1943, Page 3

NAZIS LEAVING

COLLAPSE IN TERMOLI AREA. PURSUED BY THE EIGHTH ARMY. FIFTH ARMY HOLDS CAPUA. (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright.) LONDON, October 10. The German counter-attack against the 3th Army at Termoli, on the Adriatic coast of Italy, have collapsed. The enemy has retreated and is being pursued. North of Naples the sth Army is holding Capua, and is gathering strength on the south bank of the Volturno River, before attempting the crossing. , It is officially reported that sth Army patrols have crossed the Volturno River and are in contact with the enemy. The German forces driven from Termoli are falling back on the Trigno River, 10 miles north, says the London correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph.” He reports that the Germans have abandoned the lateral road running from Termoli to Campobasso, 35 miles south-west from the coastal town. ,

The German News Agency admits that German covering forces have abandoned their forward positions on Gambatesa heights, midway between Foggia and Campobasso. The Berlin radio says that at least 24 Allied divisions are operating in Italy. The Allies have captured Santa Maria and Caserta, on the road from Maddaloni to Capua. The main body of the sth Army is concentrating on the south bank of the Volturno River before attempting a crossing, which will have to be made in face of heavy fire.

The German-controlled Paris radio says that the increasing Allied pressure will soon force Kesselring to withdraw northward.

The Bth Army has met several attacks from the 16th Panzer Division, which has not proved as threatening as at first expected, when its transfer to the Bth Army front line became effective.' It appears to have only about 30 tanks operating, while prisoners captured indicate that a majority of the troops are Alsations, Czechs, Poles, and Slavs. Halves of Retreat Unbalanced., The “Daily Mail’s” correspondent with the Bth Army says that Kesselring has clearly allowed the two halves of his retreat to become unbalanced. “The Bth Army has been allowed to advance too fast and too far,” he says. “It drove so far north of the sth Army that it threatened to outflank the Germans. The capture of Termoli, particularly, seems to have thrown the enemy defences out of gear.” The Bth Army won the Termoli victory against division's dispatched across Italy to slow down the British advance. The German divisions, in addition to the 16th Panzer, included the 29th and 15th Panzer, Grenadier, 26th Panzer, and Ist Parachute. The British United Press says that Termoli was saved after some of the bitterest fighting of the campaign. Termoli was not won until the title of the battle had flowed right into the town. The final despairing German attacks were made only 200 yards from the hospital, where doctors operated while the Allies forced the Germans back at the bayonet point in bloody hand-to-hand fighting. The battle was not won without tank losses. German 88’s knocked out some of our tanks.

Front line dispatches from correspondents say that the Germans fought fiercely for the river-bank positions, but the Americans,, flung back powerful counter-attacks and clung to the hard-won captures in the heaviest fighting of the week.

The infantry had to labour through quagmires churned by the passage of jeeps, tanks, and supply vehicles, and pitted by mines. In the mountainous central sector around Benevento the sth Army is .still fighting its way forward in the face of stiff resistance.

The Allied gains are not spectacular,. but the troops are advancing in a scrambling fight through the mountain defiles and are maintaining a firm link between the sth and Bth armies.