COMMANDERS EXPRESS CONFIDENCE

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 118, 14 February 1944, Page 5

COMMANDERS EXPRESS CONFIDENCE

(By Telegraph.—Press Assm—Copyright.) (Received February 13, 7.5 p.m.) RUGBY, Feb. 12. The following statement has been issued from No. 1 0 Downing Street: “The Prime Minister has received reports from Generals Wilson and Alexander in which both commanders express their confidence that the great battle now proceeding for the capture of Rome will be won. “In the beach-head itself, the Allies have a very strong army and superiority both in artillery and tanks. “Though spells of bad weather interrupt from time to time the delivery of supplies, the amount landed in the bridgehead substantially exceeds the schedule prescribed before the operation was begun, because of the reserves which have been built up in the fair weather period. “All battles are anxious as they approach the climax; but there is no justification for pessimism, according to the latest reports from responsible authorities.”

General Clark in. a message to his troops spoke confidently* of the situation on both fronts. He congratulated the beach-head force on its successful operations, and said reinforcements were joining them. He also congratulated the Fifth Army in the Cassino and Garigliano areas for dogged determination and persistent progress, and urged greater efforts to break through the enemy’s thinned-out line. “Though this is a battle of endurance, we can move on confidently to the next Step for the victorious march to Rome. Remember always that the enemyis tired, and dreads each of our repeated, attacks more than the last,” he said. “Give him no rest.” Reuter’s correspondent, in a dispatch from Fifth Army headquarters, says that unless Allied plans are changed, observers here believe that the Germans will be able to hold on indefinitely and the second front may be opened before the fall of Rome. There is no criticism against the planning and execution, of the Nettuno landings, which went without flaw, but some people feel that

armoured columns should have been thrown quickly against Rome before waiting for the long process of consolidating the original beach-head. ' “Serious But Not Hopeless.” Serious but not hopeless is the impression at Allied headquarters today of the position at the Anzio beach-head, says the Algiers correspondent of the British 'United Press. The front lines' have remained relatively unchanged fbr the last few days and the enemy attacks have slackened for the first time in three days, though this may be because of the bad weather. The beach-head is, now 14 miles deep. The lines are holding at both the southern end, where the Americans are fighting, and the northern, end, ■which is the British sector.. The Columbia Broadcasting System’s •Naples correspondent says the British at dusk today near Carrocetto regained most of the ground lost in the German offensive which began on February 7. The Germans are still attacking, but British counter-attacks are making steady progress. Reuter’s correspondent at the Fifth Army headquarters says that one observer who returned from the Anzio beach-head last night said: “Thb Germans are simply pouring shells across day and night without a let-up. We have magnificent air cover, but as soon as our planes are out of sight the Luftwaffe returns, dive-bombing unmercifully.”