ARMIES IN ITALY PLUG THROUGH SNOW

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 270, 13 November 1943, Page 5

ARMIES IN ITALY PLUG THROUGH SNOW

MIGNANO ADVANCE Germans Driven Back After Counter-Attack N.Z. Press Association—Copyright Rec. 11 a.m. LONDON, Nov. 12. The Allied armies, held up all along the line across Italy by some of the worst weather of the campaign, are thoroughly consolidating the ground they captured during the week. There have been a few advances on the Fifth Armv front, one being in the Mignano sector, where the third German counter-attack in three days was beaten off. The Germans are making the most of the delay caused by the bad weather. They are bringing more men down from the north to strengthen thenlines around Rome and the Carigliano and Sangro Rivers. "Plugging forward in face of snow and incessant counter-attacks, the Allies have intensified k their assaults against the German * positions in Italy," Algiers radio stated. Mignano is still in German hands, but is now coming under the fire of Allied artillery on the heights around the :own. The Germans all day yesterday attacked the right flank of the Fifth Army, but the American forces stood their ground, carried out a counter-attack and repulsed the Germans." Reuters correspondent at Allied Headquarters reports that German heavy guns mounted on the heights dominating the north bank of the Sangro River, are smashing against Eighth Army troops, who are spreading out along the south bank. The Germans have put down a heavy barrage in the past 24 hours, but the British troops are extending their hold. Signs of German Strength The Germans are showing more signs of strength on parts of the Fifth Army front than since the Salerno fighting, says Reuters correspondent with the Fifth Army. The enemy is concentrating artillery along his winter line in the mountainous area in the region of Mignano and north of Venafro. Another sign that the Germans ire determined to make a stand is the frequency of their counterattacks, which, though not made by large forces, are nevertheless determined efforts by well armed, skilled units. These activities are only to be expected in view of Rommel's order that the Germans' present mountainriver line must be held as long as possible. The Fifth Army is still edging forward for an assault against the main German positions in spite of artillery interference and counterattacks except in the western coastal sector, where they are still only patrolling the Garigliano River region. i