ADVANCE IN ITALY

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 24074, 9 October 1943, Page 5

ADVANCE IN ITALY

Slower Allied Progress fierceTbattle AT TERMOLI (N.2, Press Association—Copyright) (Red. 11 p.m.) LONDON. Oct. 8. The latest reports from Italy say that the Bth Army, on the Adriatic coast, is still fighting against heavy German opposition. The sth Army, north of 'Naples, is pushing slowly ahead towards the Volturno river, its advance being hampered by hoods and by eneiny mines and demolitions. The Allied line at present runs from a point on the coast eight miles south of the mouth of the Volturno, through Averse to Maddaloni, to a point 11 miles east of Benevento, and then north to Termoli, on the Adriatic. A stiffening of German resistance and the breaking of the weather have slowed down the Allied forces in Italy. On the sth Army front rain and mud are aggravating the difficulties which the British and Americans are meeting from enemy minefields and demolitions

as they slowly press on, and at the eastern end of the extended battle line, in the Termoli area. Marshal Kesselring is fighting grimly to ward off an outflanking threat to Rome. The main interest is at present centred on the fierce struggle at Termoli, where both the Bth Army and the Germans have' been reinforced. Reuter’s correspondent in Algiers says; “A critical battle is developing on the rain-soaked countryside before Termoli, where General Montgomery’s men are more than holding their own. “Marshal Kesselring fears an Allied break-through to Pescara, 60 miles to the north, and the Germans are using bombers against the Bth Army.for the first time since the British landed in Italy. The Germans have also switched an entire panzer division from the west coast to the Termoli area, where it sharply counter-attacked yesterday on the coast rogd near Termoli.” “The Allies have made further landings in the Termoli area,” says the Vichy radio. “At the same time General Montgomery has launched a concentrated attack, supported by a considerable number of tanks on the whole length of the eastern sector. The British Fleet is supporting landings and also continuously shelling German positions. The German withdrawal on the central sector to the north-east continues. The sth Army on the west coast is still battling against the Volturno defences.”

“Allied bombers and fighters sweeping the Italian battlefield have bagged another 82 German lorries, making the enemy’s losses in two days at least 250," says Reuter’s Algiers correspondent. “Kitty bombers destroyed 14 of a convoy of 15 lorries near Termoli.”

Mestre, a satellite town of Vepice. which was the main target for the Allied air offensive on Wednesday, is a vita! communications centre. The Trieste-Verona railway; which passes through Mestre, supplements the Brenner Pass as a supply route, from, southern Germany. The Germans will depend on it for big switches of troops between the Balkans and Italy The Germans now in Italy were estimated at from 20 to 25 divisions, says the United States Secretary of War (Mr H. L. Stimson). The Germans were reinforcing Italian units and the Bth Army, was encountering stiver resistance as it advanced up the coast.

Mr Stimson said that American casualties in the first four weeks since the landing at Salerno were 511 killed, 5428 wounded, and 2638 missing, which were somewhat heavier than those of the British components in the sth Army.

TIME-BOMBS IN NAPLES

Post Office “Giant Booby Trap” MANY "CIVILIAN CASUALTIES (N.Z. Press Association— Copyright) (Rec. 11.30 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 8. Many civilians were killed by timebombs which exploded in the Naples post office yesterday. An entire section of the post office collapsed after the explosion, burying the victims in debris. The casualties included soldiers. * A correspondent representing the combined British press describes the mining of the Naples post office by the Germans before they left a week ago as one of the war’s greatest atrocities. Delayed action mines planted in the basement contained several hundred tons of high explosive; Scores of Italian civilians, including many women and children, were blown to pieces as the whole pavement in the Via Armondo Diaza, in front of the post office, was flung into the air. Almost everybody on the ground floor of the post-office was killed. In addition many persons walking in a street a block away, and persons in adjoining buildings, were killed. The explosion occurred at fhe busiest time of the day, when hundreds of Neapolitans were visiting the post office and endeavouring to communicate with relatives and friends in districts occupied by the Allies. The post office was the only building in Naples the Germans left intact, after converting it into an immense booby trap. The Neapolitans’ reaction is one of fierce resentment against the Germans. They have worked themselves up into a state of hysteria and are calling for vengeance against their former allies. * German Terror in City

The police and Red Cross in Naples estimated that about 800 were killed and 1000 were wounded during the five days of German terror in the city. Among the Germans’ last barbaric acts before leaving Naples was to seize 200 Italians at random from different houses, make them kneel in the square and shout “Heil Hitler,” says Reuter's correspondent in Naples. The Germans then selected two Italian sailors and four soldiers, lined them up against the wall of the Naples Stock Exchange, and shot them. The correspondent adds that more than 500,000 citizens are wandering through the city like lost souls looking for water. Men, women, and children, carrying large jars, bottles, ar,d even bath tubs, form long queues an thousands at the water points which the Germans destroyed and which have been temporarily fixed. Some of the water supply lines in Naples ar4 expected to be opened shortly, and, although the main electrical power station was destroyed, Allied naval and army experts have already temporarily laid on power. Nevertheless, for some days Naples faces a grim period. An Italian captain of Marines, told Reuter's correspondent that during the last two days before the Germans cleared out of Naples, even poor Italian people attacked the Germans with rifles, pistols, and knivfes,' 'and- Italian youths threw grenades into German lodgings. , , _.;■ ’ ,1/ v "*'.