ALLIED LEADERS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 164, 13 July 1943, Page 3

ALLIED LEADERS

SEA, LAND AND AIR Montgomery In Command Of British Forces N.Z.P.A. and British Wireless Rec. 1 p.m. LONDON, July 12. General Sir Bernard Montgomery, leader of the victorious Eighth Army in North Africa, is in command of the British forces in Sicily, reports Reuters correspondent at Algiers. General Sir Harold Alexander is deputy Commander-in-Chief under General Eisenhower. General Eisenhower 'landed in Sicily to-day from a 'British destroyer and expressed himself as satisfied with the progress of the operations. Lieutenant-General Patton, it is announced, is in command of the American land forces. Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham is in command of naval operations and Air-Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder is in command of the air. Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay is naval commander under Admiral Cunningham and Vice-Admiral H. K. Hewitt is commander of the American naval forces. Lieutenant-General Spaatz has command of the general North-west Afri- ! can Air Force and Air Vice-Marshal Coningham is commander of the North-west African Tactical Air Force, with Major-General Doolittle commanding the General Strategical Air Force, and Air Vice-Marshal Lloyd commander of the North-west African Coastal Air Force. Allied troops attacking Axis forces in Sicily include crack units who distinguished themselves from Alamein to the final Tunisian battle. Reuters says that Allied losses in the latest successes were light. The inhabitants of the occupied zones have adopted a friendly attitude towards the Allied troops. According to reconnaissance reports, large-scale Allied landings are still being carried out along the whole south-eastern Sicilian coastal area. Allies Firmly Established To-day's dispatches x from headquarters indicate that the Allies have firmly established two bridgeheads in Sicily. British forces under General Montgomery hold Syracuse and all the towns on the road running south-west from Syracuse to Pazzallo, on the south coast. The American bridgehead begins 20 miles further west at Scoglitti and also extends along a front of about 35 miles to beyond Licata, over which the American flag flies. There has been no serious naval interference with Allied fleets- and transports, but at night a hospital ship, carrying 400 casualties, fully lighted according to the rules, was sunk by air attack three miles off the coast. All the wounded were safely taken off. Some of the toughest fighting has been done by parachutists of a famjOus English unit who landed late on Friday night. A high wind made the drop difficult and tended to disperse them. They reached their objective, but not in enough strength to hold it, and were driven off. However, they managed to join the seaborne forces with whom they returned- and stormed their objective.