The Press FRIDAY, JULY 16, 1943. Progress in Sicily

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 24001, 16 July 1943, Page 4

The Press FRIDAY, JULY 16, 1943. Progress in Sicily

The release of detailed news, with copious map references, in the lastj two or three days has made the position and progress of the Allied forces in Sicily steadily clearer. The early report of a landing in the north-west is unconfirmed, though operations may well be developed here. The usefulness of the flat area for air bases and the importance of Palermo both point in that direction. The occupied area extends in two arms from Cape Passero, along the south and east coasts. They embrace the greatest area of coastal plain that Sicily possesses, consequently, the area upon which Axis air strength was chiefly based. Although its military defences were no doubt correspond, ingly elaborate, the sequence of reports bears out the assumption that their connexion as a system was largely destroyed by the prolonged bombardment, and that the forces engaged in the multiple landings, point by point, have had to deal with more or less detached units. The enemy’s reinforcements, though reports of them are sparse, must be supposed to have been thrown into Messina, whence no doubt they have been moving down towards Catania. In this area, if anywhere, and north of it, the Axis has the best chance of recovering lost advantages and of exploiting those that remain, and must be expected to resist in full force and determinedly. But the advantages lost are already very great. First, the Allied attack has been carried well inland, from six to 30 miles, so that the full scope of the plains for deployment and manoeuvre is available. Second, the Allies, according to a confirmed report, have begun to operate fighters from Sicilian landing grounds. The strain of operating from Malta will accordingly be eased. The capture of Comiso extends the opportunity to base fighters within easy support range of troops; and if the Catania-Gerbini area is mastered, the problems they face will be greatly simplified. Third, the capture of Syracuse and Augusta affords the Allies good port facilities, just where they are most necessary. The Allies’ swift progress to these vantage points, which air superiority and command of the sea enable them to exploit in (relative) security, rates as a success which must powerfully influence the course of events. Moreover, in the fact that it was reached so rapidly and that progress north has so rapidly followed, there is suggestive evidence of the disorganisation of the Sicilian defence system; for the coastal gap from Catania to Syracuse is narrow and irregular, and wholly favours a ready and capable defender. These advantages are important ones to have seized, and full of promise. Against them, and as his chief hope, the enemy now rests against the mountainous terrain north of Catania. .He is unlikely to surrender the plain without much heavier fighting than has yet been experienced, and may, in fact, after the first 48 hours, have planned to stake everything on resistance here. No facts or figures yet reported justify a low estimate of the force that the Axis still bases on Messina. A strong counterattack, therefore, is by no means improbable; and it would be foolish to think that the invaders, contending against all the difficulties of organisation and supply after rapid advance, are sure to find none in beating it off. Alternatively—or after the failure of his counterattack—the. enemy might fall back on the defensive resources of Etna’s slopes and the Nebrodi ranges, presenting to the Allies a difficult problem of time and cost. But the enemy has no real third choice. On the plain of Catania or north of it, he holds. Sicily or loses it. Once resistance here is broken, and Messina falls, it cannot be effectively maintained anywhere else; and for that reason the occasional suggestion by correspondents of a campaign which will gradually penetrate the “ heart of the island ’’ and., make the methodical conquest cf its 10,000 square miles is misleading. Sicjly is not a fortress; it is a trap—-and the trap is sprung on the coast.