STRONG ENEMY RESISTANCE

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 24053, 15 September 1943, Page 5

STRONG ENEMY RESISTANCE

ENTRENCHED IN HILLS NEAR SALERNO

" GRIM ATTACKS AND COUNTER-ATTACKS ”

LONDON. Sept. IS.

A Reuter correspondent says that the sth Army is battling against a determined enemy, who is entrenched in strong positions in the hills behind Salerno. The battle is a series of grim attacks and counter-attacks. The f.ghting is much more severe than that after the landings in Sicily and North Africa. “The Germans have made a series of counter-attacks with tanks in the last 48 hours, all of which have been beaten off," he adds. “Allied armour has also been landed, but there are no reports yet of armoured clashes. “The Bth Army has covered about 70 miles in the last three days, and is now a little over 100 miles from the sth Army- The Bth Army is now in the mountainous instep, where their progress may be delayed by the difficult country and continuous demolitions. There are now no Germans south of the line running due west across the base of the toe of Italy f am Crotone to the west coast of Calabria. The whole of the Apulian Peninsula, comprising the heel of Italy, is also in Allied hands.

“Altamura, which has been captured by the Allies, is an important road junction, where the route from Bari joins the highway from Taranto to Salerno.”'

“Crack German troops are desperately resisting the Allies about two miles north of Salerno,” said an American correspondent, broadcasting.from Algiers. “We are using Salerno harbour. which is under fire from German artillery. In the toe of Italy the Germans are evacuating part of their forces by air.” Linking of Forces

Correspondents say that the Germans are carrying out a planned retreat with the object of linking their forces round Salerno. A great co-ordinated effort on the part of the Allies is forcing the Germans to fight hard, because they realise that if they do not stop the Allies here there is a danger of their forces in the south being cut off. One correspondent says that the Germans made one big mistake in the early stages of the battle. It was expected that they would make a concentrated tai k attack before the Allies landed their guns in large numbers. The attack did not come, and the Germans lost their best chance of nipning the landing in the bud. The Germans were not by any means unprepared, however. From the beaches to the hills they had cleverly prepared defence positions, and they had placed plenty of their 88-milli-metre guns, machine-guns, and snipers in woods, orchards, and hedges. All this was taking place in close country, easy to defend. The Germans, as usual, made the best use of the opportunities provided and snipers were placed everywhere, even behind the Allied lines. Allied Air Cover

Allied aeroplanes are still effectively preventing large-scale enemy air interference with the land operations, say reports from Allied Headquarters. Royal Air Force Spitfires and American Lightnings yesterday broke up two of the.enemy’s biggest efforts to-attscK the Allied bridgeheads. From 90 to 100 enemy fighters were encountered throughout the day. Allied aircraft, on the other hand, took a heavy toll of enemy transport. Invaders, sweeping low over roads in the Salerno area, destroyed or damaged 365 lorries. Reuter's correspondent in Algiers says that Wellingtons on Saturday night wiped out the important Castelnuovo rail junction, east of Naples. This is a heavy blow to the enemy, as the junction was one of the main points through which the Germans were able to move reinforcements for counter-attacks against the Salerno invasion force.

The Algiers radio announced 'to-day that the Allies now hold 10 large aerodromes in southern Italy, including Grottaglio and Lecce. Twelve airfields in the Bari area have been taken. These are much closer to the Naples battlefield than Sicily, which has been used up • to the present by ■ Allied fighters.