HIGH SIGNIFICANCE IN BATTLE OF EUROPE

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 4, 30 September 1943, Page 5

HIGH SIGNIFICANCE IN BATTLE OF EUROPE

Fall Of Foggia Opens Airway To Reich (By 'Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Received September 29, 9.20 p.m,) LONDON, Sept. 29. Armoured and other mobile forces of the Eighth Army, after storming Foggia, have advanced considerably north of the town and its airfields. “The capture of Foggia is one of the most important Allied successes of the war from a strategic point of view, as it brings the Allied air forces nearer to Germany and will permit air cover for all operations henceforth in Italy and the Adriatic coast area, specially in northern Italy,’’ said President Roosevelt. He added that he was not disclosing a military secret when he said that the German General Staff had drawn circles round several strategic spots in Europe with Foggia in the centre. “Heretofore a very large part of Germany has been sleeping outside the vulnerable area, but now it will not be able to do so,” Mr. Roosevelt said. “The victory stands out as a demonstration of the complete co-operation between the Allied land, air and naval forces.”

The Germans left a large amount of rolling stock, including 20 or 30 locomotives, on the sidings outside Foggia, say correspondents at the Allied headquarters. The equipment is mostly undamaged. The main airfield is littered with wrecked planes and almost every house is damaged aud every street bomb-cratered. ,

The latest reports still place the Fifth Army spearhead six miles from Nocera, though the Algiers correspondent of the London “Daily Telegraph” last night stated that Air Marshal Kesselring • had evacuated Nocera, which is the gateway to the Naples plain.