Allies Storming Catania Defences

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 166, 15 July 1943, Page 5

Allies Storming Catania Defences

BREACH ALREADY MADE Brilliant Sweep Northward By British Eighth Army (New Zealand Press Association.~Copyright.-Rec. 12.30 p.m.) LONDON, July 14. British, Canadian and American forces are storming the < defences of the key port of Catania, in which a breach has been made, reports Algiers radio. The report that Americans are participating m the drive against Catania is the first indication that they are operating so far east. Dispatches from Allied headquarters in North Africa state that spearheads of the British Eighth Army are thrusting into weak enemy defences within 15 miles of Catania. New Allied landings near Catania are also reported, and one-third of the Sicilian coast is now in Allied hands. Allied forces are advancing along the entire line. Eighth Army columns, in a phenomenal advance north of Augusta, are pouring across the foothills on to the southern verge of the Catania Plain, with Catania as their objective, says Reuters correspondent at Allied headquarters.

The push is gathering weight and speed, and resistance is reported to be not very determined. This brilliant sweep north is the biggest news to-night in the general advance of the Allied forces in the past 36 hours. Catania's airfield has been twice battered from the air and sea in the past 24 hours. Allies Capture Two More Important Airfields The Allies have captured two more important airfields, those at Ponte Olivo and Comiso. The town of Comiso, north of Pazzallo, and Palma, on the southern coast near Licata, have also been captured. Summing up the Allied position to-night, Reuters correspondent says: "The latest advices reaching Allied headquarters show, first, that the main British drive is progressing along the coast road from Augusta; second, that the Americans, fanning out westward from Licata, have extended the left flank by eight or ten miles and captured Naro; third, that a second American force, striking north-east from Gela, has seized the Ponte Olivo airfield and that this force is now less than two miles from Niscemi; fourth, that other American troops, who yesterday linked up with the Canadian left flank outside Ragusa, have pushed on and captured the Comiso airfield and that Allied penetration on this front has now reached' a depth of ten miles; and, fifth, that the Canadians, fighting eastward of the Americans, have occupied Modica. These were the troops who captured the Italian general Bavet. Americans in Gela Area Emerge With Greatest Distinction The British forces in the area south-west of Augusta are not meeting -with serious resistance, Reuters correspondent continues. The Canadians farther south are driving a big salient into the hills by linking up Modica and Pazzallo. The United States Army's extreme left, which is the western limit of the Allied front, now rests on the seashore in the neighbourhood of Palma. The line then runs almost due north to Naro, and turns sharply east to the American central sector north of Gela. The Americans in the Gela area emerged with the greatest distinction from the most bitter fighting of the campaign against the crack Hermann Goering Division. The enemy has retired and the Americans are pushing on, maintaining an average advance along their front of approximately six. miles. The Allied forces have occupied one-tenth of Sicily, says Reuters correspondent. The Allies continue to fight their way deeper into the heart of the island without meeting with serious opposition. Casualties continue to be slight. Many Sicilian families who fled inland when the invasion forces landed on the south-eastern beaches are returning to their homes. They are friendly and helpful and are being supplied with food.