FIGHT FOR BRIDGE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 169, 19 July 1943, Page 3

FIGHT FOR BRIDGE

Allied Parachutists Used In Advance To Catania AGAINST TREMENDOUS ODDS Rec. 2 p.m RUGBY, July 18. A correspondent tells the story of how the advancing Allied forces had to struggle for a vital bridge over a river midway between Lentini and Catania. It was more than 400 ft long and spanned one of the few Sicilian rivers which do not dry in the summer. To prevent the Germans destroying the bridge we dropped parachutists at night with orders to capture and hold it. While some were dropped behind the enemy lines and rounded up a large number of Italian prisoners whom they kept under cover all day and finally brought across the river to our lines after dark, the main body captured the bridge and held it against tremendous odds.

For nearly 24 hours they were shelled, attacked by mortars, strafed from the air and attacked on the ground by seven Italian battalions. There were less than 200 to resist this continuous onslaught, but they held out stubbornly.

However, our relieving troops were held up by the Germans at Lentini and when at last they managed to rush up to relieve the parachutists at the bridge they were three hours too late, for the parachutists, with only four rounds of ammunition left among them, had been forced to withdraw and the bridge was in German hands again. Another attempt was made to recapture the bridge and we managed to get two companies across it, but they were heavily counter-attacked and driven into the river. However, the German attempt to blow up the bridge was unsuccessful, for the parachutists had removed the charges and they only managed to blow a hole in it with an aerial bomb. The enemy made good use of the respite and hundreds of his transport vehicles moved into Catania and it is known that he has numerous tanks there. The bridge was under fire from both sides and neither was able to do anything with it. The correspondent later - reported that the bridge was in our hands. CHENNAULT IN INDIA Rec. 9.30 a.m. LONDON, July IS. Major-General Chennault. Commander of the United States Air Force in China, has arrived in New Delhi to consult with American air officers in India.