Allies Sixteen Miles From Rome

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 126, 30 May 1944, Page 5

Allies Sixteen Miles From Rome

CLOSE TO CAMPOLEONE

Germans Fight Furiously To Hold Back Fifth Army (N.Z.P.A. —Copyright.—Rec. noon.) LONDON, May 29. While still counter-attacking furiously in an effort to hold off the Fifth Army from the Velletri-Valmontone area, the German commander in Italy, Kesselring, has begun to accelerate the withdrawal of his troops facing the Eighth Army, says the Daily Mail correspondent at Allied Headquarters. The enemy counter-attacks in the neighbourhood of Ceprano and Arce suddenly ceased, after which the Germans withdrew so speedily that the British in one sector found themselves advancing without opposition. British and American beachhead forces are driving armoured wedges deeper into Kesselring's last ditch of defences before Rome—the Velletri-Valmontone line—says Reuters correspondent at Allied Headquarters. British spearheads advancing along the coastal route are within a mile of Campoleone, with only 1 6 miles to go to Rome. Reuters correspondent in Madrid says that Rome has been "in a state of uproar" throughout the week-end. Clashes between Fascists and anti-Fascists have been frequent, and scores of students have been arrested for taking part in demonstrations. German soldiers, however, are still keeping to the outskirts of the city. Link Between German Hill Forces Severed The Allied forces driving towards Valmontone overlook and control Highway No. 6 from a distance of about one mile. Thus they have virtually severed the link between the Germans in the Alban Hills and those farther south, states Reuters correspondent at Allied Headquarters. The mountain drive in the eastern sector of the front continues northward against generally light resistance.

French troops are pushing on after the capture of Mount Siserno and Villa San Stefano, while Eighth Army troops are cleaning up the hills to the north-west of Roccasecca. Although Mount Orio, which dominates Arce from the south-east, has been taken, German paratroops are putting up k fierce rearguard resistance on Mount Grande, one mile south of Arce. Their only possible escape route lies northward through Avezzano over a narrow mountain' road which is constantly being bombed. The fall of Arce would unlock the northern clasp of the Highway No. 6 road block, which has already been half demolished after the capture of Ceprano.

Eighth Army units are hastily improvising bridges across the Liri and Sacco Rivers, harrying the German rearguard. The Allies here have pushed five miles further west and are now only six miles and a half from Frosinone. ,

The Associated Press correspondent points out that it is ironical that Carrocetto, which has changed hands five times since the Anzio landing at a cost of thousands of British and German lives, fell to the British yesterday morning without a fight. Carrocetto, which at one time was Mussolini's model Fascist village, is now flattened after months of bombardment by British and American forces.