ALLIED PRESSURE IN ITALY

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 24093, 1 November 1943, Page 5

ALLIED PRESSURE IN ITALY

Town Captured On West Coast

RAIN IMPEDING PROGRESS

(NJZ. Press Association—Copyright)

(Rec. 11 p.m.)' LONDON, Oct. 31. The sth Army, in the western coastal sector in Italy, is now right up against the Massico ridge, just north of Mondragone. The enemy is keeping up a heavy bombardment from very strong defence positions. A British Broadcasting Corporation correspondent reports that heavy rain is impeding progress at both ends of the Italian front. , ■ The sth Army, after capturing Mondragone. which was the vital western pivot of the Germans’ new line, crossed the whole length of the canal running from the sea to the main Cancello road. Lieutenant-General Clark thus threatens to outflank the Germans’ new line and force the mountain barrier to Rome on the ooastal road. Reuter’s Algiers correspondent says that the Bth Army has occupied Montemetro, one mile north of Montefalcone. and, about 14 miles from the Adriatic. In the centre General Montgomery’s left flank, by the capture of Molise, 12 miles north-west of Campobasso, is now very close to the core of the German defence system. Molice gives the Bth Army control of important secondary ' roads through the mountains. "On the right flank the Bth Army coastal force which captured Montefalcone has forced a new crossing of the Trigno river in the face of fierce opposition,” says the correspondent. “The British now threaten San Salvo,

the German defence centre in this sector. The Germans on the north bank of the Trigno, east of San Salvo, are still offering a stiff resistance. “On the left flank the Americans east of the Massico ridge have driven a wedge into the German positions and are throwing the' main weight of their offensive towards the road junction of Teano. The Americans, by their latest advance of three miles, have now ground from which they are able to menace this junction, which is the centre of the road system between the twin Rome highways.”

Reports from German sources that a big battle is imminent in Italy are described in London as “imaginary and probably issued in order to distract attention from the Russian front, and perhaps even as.prepatation for an imaginary German victory.”

The Official German News Agency clajfns another “almost classic success’’ in- the German withdrawal on the Volturno sector as a result of “delaying defence” in the face of Allied numerical superiority. Dispatches from Italy do not mention the new violent offensive which Axis sources claim General Montgomery and Lieutenant-General Clark have already launched, but a major battle is said to be imminent on the sth Army front. The Algiers radio says that Lieutenant-General Clark’s forces are squarely facing the German defences in the Matese mountains. The Allies expect severe resistance.

The Algiers radio says that Flying Fortresses which blasted the marshalling yards at Genoa caught the Germans unprepared. They dropped their bombs through a break in heavy cloud. A number of factories were also hit, and photographs show that these included the Ansaldo steel and ordnance works and also the San Giorgio instrument factory.

PARTISANS ENTER HUNGARY

JUGOSLAV CLAIM (Rec. 8.30 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 31. Croat partisans have crossed the Hungarian frontier at a number of points and are at present. fighting on Hungarian territory, says a Jugoslav Army of Liberation communique, Jugoslavs routed a German column at Klin after ,a 10 hours’ battle, and dispersed a column 25 miles south of Belgrade. Allied aircraft supporting the Jugoslavs bombed enemy columns near Metkovic.

“General Tito,” leader of the Jugoslav People’s Army of Liberation, is Josip Borozovich, a Croat metal worker and trade union leader, who fought for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War. This is revealed by Lieutenant Lafnbtpn Burn, R.N.y.R., naval editor of “Parade,” a British illustrated journal published at Cairo. An Italian army of 30,000 men, formed in the province of Venezia, has established liaison with the Jugoslav partisans, says the Berne correspondent of the British United Press. The Italian army has already had a 24 hours’ battle against the Germans a * Verona. Many were killed and wounded on both sides. The Italians withdrew to the mountains when the Germans sent reinforcements. . German communications in Venezia are being constantly cut, and transport is being intercepted. Lieutenant Burn spent three days in a Dalmatian port occupied bv “General Tito’s" troops. The' People’s Army has hitherto done its utmost to keep the leader’s name secret. He commands an army said to number 300,000 men. divided into 20 divisions. Among the officers are officers of the old Jugoslav army, workmen, peasants, and professional men. “The railway line between Zagreb and Belgrade has been destroyed at 130 points over a total length of more than 37 miles,” said an earlier communique. “Two large and several smaller brfdges have been blown up and more than 1000 telegraph poles, four railway engines, and 60 waggons destroyed. At one point 100 Germans guarding the track were killed’and at another point 190 were killed. The operation was carried out by the 7th Slovenian Corps. “In Croatia partisans repulsed attacks by German forces who, in the last few days, have been carrying out major operations in the region of Zumenberak, west of Zagreb. On the Croat-Hungarian frontier partisans destroyed the railway line between Koprivnica and Djoekenos. “In Slovenia partisans a number of fortified positions behind the German lines. Units of the 27th Division occupied Rogatica in eastern Bosnia. One hundred Germans were killed, 120 were wounded,, and much war material was captured.” The Jugoslav Government in Cairo says General Mikhailovic’s forces have cut the Belgrade-Salonika railway south of Leskovac. putting out of commission the only supply line for the Germans in Greece and the Greek Islands. General Mikhailovic’s forces also cut the railways between Serbia and Bosnia and the Adriatic,