TWO-MAN SUICIDE SQUADS IN CASSINO

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 40, 17 February 1944, Page 5

TWO-MAN SUICIDE SQUADS IN CASSINO

KAZI DEFENDERS

Steel-Hooded Pillboxes Air Conditioned

N.Z. Press Association—Copyright Rec. noon. LONDON, Feb. 16. It is officially confirmed that onethird of Cassirio is in Allied hands. The Americans are slowly moving ahead through the shell-torn streets, clearing the Germans out house by house. In addition to converting every building into a strongpoint the Germans have studded the town with steel-hooded concrete pillboxes, protected by armourplate between three and four inches thick, in which are posted two-man suicide squads equipped with machine-guns and periscopes. Some pill-boxes are air conditioned to minimise the effects of cordite fumes. Tough Monastery Battle Expected Although the main church has been practically obliterated, and Cassino monastery itself almost destroyed, a tough battle is expected for the summit of Monastery Hill, from which Allied troops at present are only a few hundred yards, says the British United Press correspondent with the Fifth Army. Artillery all last night kept up spasmodic shelling, after which fighter-bombers followed up with heavy daylight attacks. Reuters correspondent says that this bombing and shelling are reported to have opened a breach in the enemy defences on Monastery Hill, by which the Allied prospect of breaking through and cutting the road to Rome has been immeasurably brightened. American troops, after battling grimly from house to house over the past fortnight, now hold one-third of Cassino, says a correspondent at Allied headquarters quoted by British Official Wireless. On Abbey Hill, just to the'west, Allied troops hammer relentlessly at a network of German pillboxes._ Allied artillery is throwing shells minute by minute into the shambles which yesterday morning was the Benedictine monastery. One Clash on Beachhead The British United Press says that only one major patrol clash was reported from the beachhead in the past 24 hours. This occurred in Sessano village, five miles south of Cisterna, on the road to Littoria. Strong forces of heavy bombers for the fourth night in succession last night smashed against enemy communications and troop concentrations south of Rome. They dropped a great weight of heavy bombs near the beachhead. The Germans in the Orsogna area of the Eighth Army front put in a small-scale infantry and tank attack against the Indians which was broken up by artillery. _ Canadians patrolling in the Adriatic coast of the Eighth Army front went deeply into enemy positions.

BRITISH CASUALTIES

British Official Wireless Rec. 1.30 p.m. RUGBY, Feb. 16. The Prime Minister stated in the House of Commons that the following casualties had been sustained by the British armies in Italy, including Dominion and Indian troops, between September 3, 1943, and February 12 last: Killed 7635, wounded 23.253, missing 5708; total 36,626. Navy and R.A.F. casualties were not included.