PARTISAN BATTLES

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 309, 24 September 1943, Page 7

PARTISAN BATTLES

Attack By Mikhailovitch Forces Alleged (Received ‘September 23. 8.40 p.m.) ■LONDON, September 23. Violent battles are raging for the Yugoslav town of' Susak, across the Italian border from Fitime. The major part of the town is in the hands of the Yugoslav People’s Army of Liberation, states an army communique broadcast by the Free Yugoslav radio. It adds that guns at Susak are shelling the German positions in Flume. “Heavy fighting with the Germans, is in progress in Bosnia along the line Bihac-Knin,” the communique says. “A Partisan detachment of 3000 men near Gomilja repelled an attack iby forces of General Mikhailovitch, more than 2000 of whom were killed and 300 taken prisoner. Partisans in Slovenia destroyed five miles of the Ljubljana-Trieste railA German communique reports fighting with patriots in the border region of Yugoslavia and Italy, and says that Slovenes, Croat patriots, and Italians (whom the Germans call Communists) tried to seize the eastern part of the province of Venezia, the Istrian Peninsula, and Slovenia. German troops, according to the communique, occupied key points. Croat Quislings Turn. LONDON, September 23. A correspondent in Cairo states that the successive victories of, the northern partisan forces on the Yugoslav front have been the result of a German miscalculation. The Germans scut Croat quisling troops to garrison, towns, and these immediately went over to the partisans with all their equipment. The troops are also making'excellent use or tiie Italian equipment they gained after the armistice in Italy. The German counter-attacks east of the Dalmatian port of Split have been repulsed. The partisans, using fleets of fishing boats, claim to have captured a number of Dalmatian islands. Their interruption of the Germans’ Trieste route to the Adriatic represents a substantial triumph for General Eisen.bower. ___________