LESS RESISTANCE BELOW NAPLES

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 306, 21 September 1943, Page 5

LESS RESISTANCE BELOW NAPLES

Allies Take Hill Barrier BRITISH REPORTED NORTH OF CRETE (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) LONDON, September 20. The Allies are making good progress on the south Italian front. It is confirmed that the Germans are withdrawing from the south of the Salerno front. At the northern end the Fifth Army has captured all the commanding heights of the Sorrento Peninsula, the mountainous promontory separating the Gulf of Salerno from the Gulf of Naples. . Today’s Allied communique says the army continued to extend its brigehead against decreasing enemy resistance. Reinforcements have still been arriving.

The Eighth Army advanced northward, and troops in the west captured a town midway between Taranto and Bari, both of which are in Allied hands. The British have occupied Castelorizo, the most easterly of the Dodecanese Islands, whicli is four miles off the Turkish coast and 90 miles cast of Rhodes. Reporting this, Reuter's Istanbul correspondent says that British troops, on {Saturday also disembarked in the Greek island of Samos, to the north of the Dodecanese. A delayed dispatch from Turkey states that Italian refugees arriving at Bodrum from Castelorizo on Saturday reported that a large Allied fleet was hovering near the island. The refugees also confirmed an earlier report that the Allies had seized the islands of Lcros aud Cos, which are also north of the Dodecanese. ... Italian military aud civilian refugees who' arrived at Bodrum, stated that the Italians on Rhodes surrendered after a 14 hours’ fight against the Germans, hollowing upon the announcement ot the Italian armistice, 5000 German troops, including panzer units, out-manoeuvred and crushed the garrison of -0,000 Italians. , , . ~ The worst lighting was centred in the (own of Rhodes, where Italian artillery engaged mobile German units iu a nightlong duel. Germap motorized infantry also fought Italian garrisons at practically every strategic point on the island, culminating in fierce attacks by German dive-bombers from Crete. The Germans immediately • after the Italian surrender instituted a reign ot terror, machinegunning crowds in the streets of Rhodes and oilier places, and many civilians were killed aud wounded. Italian Sailors' Act. islands of Ischia aud Procida, near Naples, have been secured for the Allies by unite of the Italian Navy and a British naval officer, according to Iress messages (says British Official Wireless). Seven Italian boats were at Capri when (he Allied force arrived. The crews insisted that they should be allowed to fight as part of the Royal Navy. -lhey were allowed to go to Ischia and then proceed to secure them against tne Germans. They were accompanied by one British officer. . , . Already refugees from central and northern Italy are pouring into territory occupied by the Allies. In one ullage a self-constituted interpreter., an old Italian who had returned to finish his life in retirement after living and working in the United States, told a correspondent that he had already met about 1000, who had arrived, dusty and footsore, after trekking from as tar away as Trieste and Bologna. \ refugee from Romo described lighting between Italian and German troops.in the streets when the Italians were trying to hold out against the demands of then) former allies. The Germans bombed the city, the refugee stated. Fighting Continues. It is learned that street fighting is still going on in. Rome. Before the Germans entered Rome all weapons in tne Royal Arsenal were handed out to the people. Throughout Italy the railwaymen are striking and the German authorities themselves are having to control tne whole communications system.

Underground resistance is causing the Germans anxiety in Naples. Refugees from there brought a copy of a proclamation by the German general officer commanding, staling that reprisals would be made for the continued assassinations Of German soldiers in the city. . A full-scale war is raging in the ('unco area, about 50 miles south ot 'Turin, where members of the Italian Fourth Army, which was formerly sta-

tioned in France, are resisting the Germans, says the Berne "Die Tat’s” correspondent on the Italian frontier. Pockets of Italian resistance are also reported to exist still in the Venice area. German troops in the Turin area fired on demonstrating crowds of workers, many of whom were killed and wounded. The Turin workers are still refusing to .return to the factories. As the Germans retreated into Corsica' from Sardinia they were attacked by the French inhabitants. BATTLE 15 MILES S. OF NAPLES Axis Report Of Fighting (Received (September 20, 5.45 p.m.) LONDON, September 20. The Fifth Army speeded up its advance yesterday along the entire front. Reuter’s correspondent at Salerno says "that ■the next round of the ibattle for. Italy will he fought in the mountains which encircle Salerno Bay. It will be a ibattle of infantrymen in passes covered with vineyards and orchards and traversed toy a few tortuous roads. Men, and not massed' movements of tanks and guus, will decide the outcome.

The “(Daily (Express” says that the Fifth Army is pushing nearer to Naples, and it. quotes an Axis report that the main battle is Hieing fought at Castelammare, which is 'K> miles south of Naples. Algiers radio says the Germans are digging in in new positions in the expectation of a heavy drive from the combined Fifth and Eighth Armies. The radio urgently warned the Italians to take cover, from Allied raids, and urged them not to come into the open waving flags. The battle for Naples is about to begin. Algiers radio says that the Eighth Army has taken up positions for a large-scale offensive. Powerful reinforcements continue to pour into the Salerno bridgehead. The Germans hold strong positions outside Salerno, and Allied military circles expect a tough fight for Naples. Front line dispatches say that the Allies are forcing the Germans back along the entire line iu Italy.

The Allied front is now continuous across southern Italy from coast to coast. The Fifth Army, with its left flank pivoting on .Salerno, is swinging through the Salerno plain and steadily extending its 'front. Patrols in some inland areas have failed to make contact with the Germans, but there is no sign of a precipitate German withdrawal. Allied guns and planes are pounding long transport columns moving northward, apparently to the iNoeera ga>p, on the road to Naples. Algiers radio says that Allied' motorized forces on lhe Adriatic coast are rapidly progressing toward Foggia. The column is being supplied from Brindisi, where supplies are being lauded without interruption. Numerous Italian airfields are now in Allied hands. The Allies are using airfields in the Salerno area, including Montecorvino airfield 1 . Allied headquarters states officially that the German air opposition to the Allies’ non-stop onslaught is practically negligible. NEW ARMADAS LONDON, 'September 19. Reports from La Linea (.Spain) state that three convoys, totalling over 100 freighters and tankers, passed from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean yesterday. German planes reported great Allied transport armadas moving eastward from the western Mediterranean.

CONCERN OVER POPE

Argentine Statement (Received September 20. 9 p.m.) NEW YOIRiK, iSeptcinber .19. ■An Argentine Foreign Ministry statement. says the Government, is deeply concerned over the fa'le of the Pope in the Vatican City now that 'Rome is occupied by German troops. The “New York Times” Buenos Aires correspondent says that many .people interpret this as the first indication that a change in Argentine foreign policy is perhaps contemplated. For the second time the Pope has refused to see Field-Marshal Kesselring. says Algiers radio. The Pope let the German commander know that the German troops must be withdrawn from Rome before an interview would be granted. The radio also reported that German troops have been ordered to protect the German Embassy at Rome following an outbreak of riots and demonstrations.

The German occupation of Rome has not appreciably affected communications between the Vatican and the United States, says the “New York Times.” Vatican messages to its United States representative, the Most Reverend Amleto Cigognani, are apparently unrestricted and virtually normal, but messages to some other Catholic groups are veiled and lack their usual spontaneity.

CLAIM BY GERMANS LONDON, September 19. Today’s German communique says: “The heavy battles . after the Salerno landings hqye not given the British and tile Americans their expected strategic success. They have not succeeded in cutting off the German divisions stationed in southern Italy. Our troops, lighting greatly numerically superior forces, have prevented lhe enemy extending his bridgehead. Bv eounlcr-allacks, despite heavy naval gunfire, we have pressed lhe enemy back wilh heavy cmmalties Io a narrow coastal strip. Wilh lhe Germans in lhe Salerno area, lhe Anglo American operational plan, based on Badoglios betrayal, has I huk been completely foiled.” ’The communique claims that: the Gormans killed, and wounded ,r)ver.,lo.WXl

British and Americans, and took 4429 prisoners, and destroyed or captured 100 tanks. The Luftwaffe and the navy, operating against the Allied Janding licet between September S and .17, sank three cruisers, two destroyers, one torpedo-boa I, nine transports, ami 15 landing barges, and in addition damaged 125 merchantmen, nine tankers, nine landing barges, .aiul_one..ualrol-hoat-.