FIFTH AND EIGHTH ARMIES ADVANCING

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 227, 24 September 1943, Page 3

FIFTH AND EIGHTH ARMIES ADVANCING

THREE TOWNS TAKEN Nazis Fight Hard To Retain Grip On Heights N.Z. Press Association —Copyright Rec. 1.30 p.m. LONDON, Sept. 23. The Fifth and Eighth Armies have continued to advance in Southern Italy and have captured Ginosa and Avigliano, which is north-west of Potenza, and Acerno,- north of Campagna, states an official communique from Algiers. The enemy continues to cling hard to his positions in the we'stern sector pending his withdrawal of his left, flank. The capture of Avigliano means that the Eighth Army, moving up from Potenza, has advanced 10 miles in 24 hours. No Sudden Break-through The Fifth Army in the Salerno area followed up its fierce early morning artillery barrage with increased activity all along its front, and the pressure is growing, states Reuters correspondent. The Germans are still fighting hard to retain their hold on hill positions north of Salerno, where everything favours the defence. No sudden break-through is •expected. "To-day, two weeks after they landed on the beaches at Salerno, the troops of the Fifth Army have occupied every height in the Salerno area, and in some parts of the American section it is the Germans who are now down in the flat country exposed to relentless shelling, states a correspondent with the Fifth Army. "Nowhere in the American section are the Germans attacking. They are withdrawing slowly along the whole front. In some instances the American push-up into the mountains has been so rapid that ttie Germans have had to make hurried departures from small mountain towns to avoid being taken in the passes."

Barefooted Italian Soldiers "As the British and American forces advance in Southern Italy they pass groups of Italian soldiers, sometimes as many as 100 together, marching southward in single file, states the British United Press correspondent with the Fifth Army. "Many of them are barefooted ana many more are ragged, carrying their possessions in small bundles and begging for rations from Allied soldiers. Our men have seen hundreds of pathetic reunions at little farm houses where families tearfully welcomed sons and husbands. Altogether there are thousands on the roads. In the meantime Italian country folk follow Allied troops into towns from which they fled when the fighting started and thet-e begin to search for their ruined homes. THRUST EXPECTED Allied Troops Reinforced In Dodecanese RHODES ISLAND BY-PASSED Rec. noon. LONDON, Sept. 23. More troops are being sent to the Dodecanese Islands, according Turkish reports, which _ sa y "1?, British warships are moving in out of the islands and planes are using newly-estabhsh airfields. 1 The Allies now occupy four of the Dodecanese Islands —Castelorizo, , Leros and Samos. British foice y passed the German-held isl ?? d th Rhodes, the main islana in Dodecanese, to land on Leios, and Samos. Landings on other, islands expected soon as a preliminary thrust against the Balkans fro south-east.