CONTINUED PRESSURE ON FIFTH ARMY FRONT

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 290, 7 December 1943, Page 3

CONTINUED PRESSURE ON FIFTH ARMY FRONT

FIGHT FOR HEIGHTS Allies Hold Six Strong Positions N.Z. Press Association—Copyright Rec. 11 a.m. LONDON, Dec. 6. The Fifth Army is relentlessly forcing its way towards the Liri and Sacco Valley roads to Rome, capturing positions dominating the entrances to the valleys one by one, state reports from Allied Headquarters. The Germans are fighting fiercely to retain their holds on these vital positions. Kesselring is believed to have issued a new - order to hold the sector at all costs. There are unconfirmed reports that the Germans have mined the roads of retreat in order to prevent the defenders from falling back before the Allied onslaught. There have been one or two German attempts to counter-attack, but these have been broken up before the Allied positions were endangered. "The Fifth Army yesterday," says Reuters correspondent, "captured three more strongly-fortified heights in the battle against the German positions before Mignano. The Fifth Army now has five commanding positions overlooking the Liri Valley in addition to Mount Maggiore. "Allied planes are dropping emergency rations for the British and American troops, who are fighting almost in isolation on the rugged heights, where even mule trains are inadequate. Important Heights in Allied Hands A special communique issued by General Eisenhower's Headquarters says that three of. the most important heights of the Mount Camino area are now in Allied hands. It also states that troops of the Fifth Army have broken into strong German positions on Mount Camino and Mount Maggiore.

The Germans mounted a counter-<$ attack in considerable strength early on Sunday, says a correspondent with the Fifth Army, but our defensive fire broke it up completely. Our troops have taken a small hill village and have got patrols into a second village further on, he adds. Both are important as 'communication centres and might have been used by the Germans as assembly areas for more counter-attacks. The Fifth Army, says Algiers radio, yesterday captured over 200 prisoners in the Calabrito region. The Germans here are not offering much resistance. They appear to be dazed by the violent artillery fire and aerial bombardment. Fighting on Mountain Slopes "Although on the Fifth Army front," says a correspondent at Allied Headquarters, "the weather is still rainy and cold, there are indications that it will shortly improve. On this front the heaviest fighting is still in the Monte Maggiore and Monte Camino regions. We have now captured commanding heights in those well-fortified defences, but the Germans are fighting desperately on the lower ridges of Monte Camino. They have held tenaciously to positions already under heavy fire from our guns. "Isolated pockets of German resistance are being steadily elimi- . nated and, despite the arrival of enemy reinforcements, our forces are pushing forward along the coastal sector to the neighbourhood of Casone."