GARIGLIANO BATTLE

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 98, 21 January 1944, Page 5

GARIGLIANO BATTLE

British Troops Capture Three Places

LONDON, January 20.

British troops of the Fifth Army have continued their advance on the coastal sector north of the Garigliano River despite stiff German resistance and two counter-attacks. Luio and Argento, and another nearby village, have been captured. Thisds reported in today’s communique from Italy, which says also that elsewhere on the Fifth and Eighth Army fronts patrols have been active. Our heavy bombers have raided airfields in Central Italy.

The first place of the crossing of the Garigliano River is at Suio, a village on a height of 1500 feet seven miles inland. The second is near the CapuaRome railway, four miles east of Minturno, and the third is at Arento, near the mouth of the river.

Late on Tuesday night things were still going well aiong the lower sectors of the Garigliano River front, with the north bank for 10 miles inland from the coast firmly hell, says Reuter’s correspondent with the British forces. British troops had advanced more than a mile on all sectors, and are still making good progress. Italian frontline, civilians are taking a keen interest in the battle, pausing while working in the fields to watch the Allied operations. A British general from the window of his headquarters watched the attack develop, and, after a careful scrutiny through powerful binoculars, told correspondents that things were going well, though there had been one or two stick}’ patches. Enemy Surprised.

Prisoners reveal that when the Fifth Army forced the Garigliano the Germans were taken completely by surprise. They were caught while out of their trenches receiving rations, and before they could regain cover they suffered heavy casualties in the violent artillery barrage. The artillery’, in contrast to the practice in previous attack, did not prelude the operation. It only opened' up after the first waves of troops had crossed the river.

The Garigliano crossing was a fine

piece of military organization. The river, which is steeply banked, averages 100 ft. yyide, and it flows so swiftly that it cannot be forded. ' The Germans, from high ground to the north, had the river under direct observation, making it imperative that the assault should be made at night time. Reuter’s Algiers correspondent says the Germans north of the Garigliano are determinedly opposing the British advance, throwing in substantial tank forces in repeated counter-attacks. The British forces are also being raked by machineguns and mortars from German strongpoints on the high, ground to the north. Allied dive-bombers and fighterJboinbers are combining with-artillery to lay a continuous barrage against these positions.

The Fifth Army forces nearing Cassino continue to pour down from the mountains, contacting (he Germans across the Rapido River. Apart from the Canadian withdrawal, the Eighth Army front is enlivened only by artillery exchanges and patrolling. Rain interfered with air activity. American Sector. The Algiers correspondent of the British United Press says the Germans, after the American raid across the Rapido River, have withdrawn to stronger positions on a six-mile fortified line between Cassino and San Elia, which forms part of the Gustav line. Fifth Army units are now less than a mile from Cassino. Allied air operations on Tuesday included attacks by escorted heavy bombers on key points and rail communications in Tuscany. The communique adds that railway yards at Pisa Pistoia, Poggibonsi, Pontedera and Certaldo were bombed, also the airfield at Pistoia. Medium bombers sank one enemy merchantman near Cape Castiglioncallo and damaged another. Light aircraft were very active, co-operat-ing with ground forces over the battle area. They also flew numerous sorties against communications in northern Italy and Yugoslavia, and damaged shipping off the Dalmatian coast. Seven enemy aircraft were destroyed for the loss of three of ours.

Pistoia is an important communications centre where the line north of Florence divides, one turning to Bologna and the other to Pisa and the coast. Pontedera is on the Florence-Pisa railway, and Poggibonsi is on the main road nearly 40 miles south of Florence. Certaldo is 12 milss north-west of Poggibonsi. Cape Castillioncello is 20 miles south of Leghorn. Enemy Islands Bombarded. A naval communique records, much activity in the Adriatic in the past week. Allied destroyers shelled Rovigno, Durazzo, Drvenik, 15 miles west of Split, and Korcula. British, coastal forces attacked a small ship in Sumartin harbour, Brae Island, and engaged a Siebel ferry, sustaining some damage but no casualties. American coastal forces attacked lighters off Spezia without damage to themselves. Rovigno, on the west coast of the Istrian Peninsula, at the northern end of the Adriatic, is 17 miles north-west of Pola. The island of Brae is .just south of Split, and is immediately opposite the Allied line in Italy, and Sumartin is on the eastern shores. Korcula is some 30 miles south of Brae, and is separated from it by the island of Ilvar. During a recent patrol in the Aegean Sea the submarine Sazik sank a 6000-ton enemy supply ship, states a Polish naval communique. She. also destroyed two small supply ships in the same area.

EYE-WITNESS STORY Secret Massing For Attack

LONDON, January 19.

A" - correspondent who watched the assault writes: “The flooded approaches.of the river near the sea and the mountains that rise as the river widens inland together make the approaches to the stream extremely difficult, but along the banks themselves thick trees provide cover. The attack began at 9 p.m. “For 24 hours our men had been hiding in cramped positions, edging their way forward yard by ward with assault boats and collapse rafts. Bofors guns firing ■tracer shells' were the first to open up, followed by the sharp crack of 25-pound-ers. The hills behind were bright with gun flashes. Fires were started at two places on the opposite bank. Tlje fierce blazes illuminated the whole scene. Artillery support was given as the infantry forged forward. The detonations only died away with the first sight of dawn, when reports came back of a penetration along the whole line of attack and parties of prisoners came drifting back.” On the Eighth Army front Canadian troops achieved limited objectives, withdrawing under cover of night to their original positions, another correspondent reports. At Ataletto, two miles south fit San Angelo, the British encountered German ski troops. In the Orsogna area the Germans forming up to raid houses lipid by us were shelled and dispersed. Patrol activity and shelling are in progress all along the front in rainy weather and low cloud.