SAVAGE HUN BLOWS HINDER EIGHTH ARMY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 295, 13 December 1943, Page 3

SAVAGE HUN BLOWS HINDER EIGHTH ARMY

ENEMY PAYS DEARLY

Gains Limited By Fierce

Opposition

N.Z.P.A. and British Wireless

Rec. 12.30 p.m,

LONDON, Dec. 12,

Savage counter-attacks by the Germans, supported by tanks along the Adriatic coast, have brought the Eighth Army's advance towards Pescara and Chieti to a virtual standstill, but they cost the Nazis dearly, says the Associated Press correspondent at Algiers.

Reuters correspondent says that although the Eighth Army made further advances they were limited owing to fierce opposition, also the rain-soaked terrain. The bridgehead established north of Frisa, seven miles inland from the Adriatic coast, was further enlarged.

The British United Press reports that the Eighth Army's Canadian speadheads to-night were battling with the crack German 90th Light Division on the outskirts of Ortona. Eighth Army units were also meeting strong resistance near Guardigrele.

Mignano, which was known to be definitely within the Allied line, was captured by the Fifth Army, according to Vichy radio, which added that the Americans were advancing from Mignano towards Cassino.

Road to.Rome Heavily Mined

The German News Agency stated that German rearguards several weeks ago evacuated Mignano. They mined the road to Rome to such a degree that the Americans were only now able to make use of the locality.

Algiers radio stated that the Fifth Army occupied several heights one mile north of the Capua-Rome road.

Paris radio said the Fifth Army put down an artillery barrage unprecedented in violence south-west of Venafro, 30,000 shells being fired in 24 hours in a single sector with the object of softening the German positions.

An Allied communique states that the Fifth Army continued to make limited advances, winning important terrain in the central sector and capturing Roccadanandra. The enemy has been driven from the whole eastern bank of Carigliano River, south of Roccadanandra.

General Arnold, United States Air Chief, visited the Fifth Army front yesterday with General Clark for a close-up of the mountainous terrain for which the Americans are fighting. The Associated Press correspondent says the generals drove in jeeps to forward positions where the artillery was pounding the German lines. The Germans also shelled their area, and one shell fell less than 100 yards from the generals.-

Many German Dead Buried

The enemy, fighting fiercely on both fronts in Italy, is suffering heavy casualties, writes a war correspondent. On the Eighth Army front there was one instance when shelling by our artillery was so intense that the ground was strewn with enemy dead. One of our battalions buried 200 Germans.

The Germans made a grand-scale attack in an attempt to regain the ground they lost on the previous day a mile west of Felignano, shelling first with heavy guns btefore sending in infantry. The Americans rose to the occasion and kept their hold on the height. The Eighth Army is being held up as much by weather as by enemy opposition. Our Air Force is giving the land troops every possible support whenever the weather permits, despite increased fighter opposition. In San Leonardo area our troops extended their bridgehead despite very fierce resistance which is general all over the front.

On the Fifth Army front our artillery smashed up another dangerous counter-attack aimed at a height north-east of San Pietro, which was recently captured, and afterwards kept sending shells into the village. Our fighter-bombers and fighters were active ahead of the Fifth Army. Railway targets near Archi, on the road to Rome, were attacked three times during the day by Invaders and hits were scored on tracks and railway yards. Other Invaders bombed and strafed the railway junction of Ponte Gallera, south-east of Rome. Hangars were strafed and a landing ground and radio station in the vicinity attacked.