HEAVY COUNTER-BLOWS FROM AIR

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 123, 19 February 1944, Page 8

HEAVY COUNTER-BLOWS FROM AIR

Allied Answer To Further Enemy Attacks In Beach-Head NEW TYPE OF SPLINTER-BOMB USED

(British Official Wireless and Press Assn.) (Received February 18, 7 p.m.) LONDON, February 18 Cabling from the beach-head south of Rome last night a co respondent states that the Allies have countered the new German attack in the beach-head by the heaviest air attack on the whole Mediterranean war. Flying Fortresses and Liberators, in a concentration exceeding anything used at Salerno, yesterday poured down bombs on the! Geman troop concentrations, supply, dumps and artillery those of the heavier artillery in the Alban Hills. 1 hey w ' 1 by medium and light bombers. , f ~• In these a new anti-personnel bomb was used tor the first ti e. These weigh 201 b each, and many tons were dropped. J hey hurst parallel with the ground level and do terrible destruction among concentrated bodies of men.

The Gentians are attacking hard, using infantry and tanks, but our troops are fighting them off and, except for one slight withdrawal of little importance, our lines have everywhere held, the correspondent states. The enemy artillery is putting down a fierce barrage, but our field artillery ie-returning shell for shell. ; The British United Press correpondent at Allied headquarters says the British and Americans are fighting off non-stop German tank and infantry attacks, lhe German pressure shows.no sign of slackening, but the Allied lines this afternoon were firmly holding. , The Germans, ignoring heavy losses or men and material, are attacking over, the bodies of their own comrades. Their barrage began at 6.30 a.m. on Wednesday,, and continued uninterruptedly till 7.40 a.m., after which the • infantry crawled from its positions round the factory near Carrocetto. . u . The Germans nt one point managed to filter into our positions, but were hurled out after some'hours. All other attacks were quickly smashed back. but two thrusts from the direction of.the factory continued all the morning, with German artillery putting up a heavy barrage. Most Allied soldiers expect the Germans will make another large-scale effort to reach the sea and split the beachhead. „ Enemy Sources Cautious.

German sources are carefully playing down the immediate objectives. Pans radio reports that the Luftwaffe is launching dav and night attacks against the ports of Anzio and Nettuno and against Allied shipping offshore. 5 ichy. radio says the main battle is occurring in the air. both sides operating with strong aerial spearheads. Rome radio declares that the German artillery fire against the Anzio beach-head in the past few hours reached a climax of infernal violence. The German news agency commentator Hallensleben says: “Field-Marshal Kesselring is not trying to dislodge the British and the Americans from the coastal sector, but to keen the sector isolated within a narrow space. The Allies have achieved nothing by the landing in spite of the most careful preparations and the employment of large naval units and airfleets.' .. . . “The beach-head, after four weeks, is only 12 miles wide and six to nine miles deep. The Allies have created a new front, but have thereby split their own but not the German forces. . “Field-Marshal Kesselring m the first phase did not hinder the enemy but allowed the beach-head to be saturated with all the resources the enemy was ready to throw into the operation. He is practising for what the Allies must expect in future amphibious operations, xhe German plan is to give the enemy a bloodletting and thereby necessitate constant feeding from the sea.” ' The German news agency’s correspondent says: “German infantry went into action under criss-crossing shells from British naval guns and German railway guns, creating a most intense barrage. Simultaneously, ferocious air battles went on overhead, American planes often racing along at an altitude ‘of only w feet, battering German supply roads. The British and the Americans have built up strong positions, protected by minefields, but they are being hard pressed by German infantry and paratroops.” Reuter’s Algiers correspondent says that clear skies and improving weather gave Kesselring an opportunity to throw in powerful infantry resources. . Front-line reports sav that nine verman divisions oppose the Allied troops in the beach-head. Till a few days ago there were seven, but the enemy, in .regrouping for the second major offensive, rushed up two new divisions.

CASSINO QUIETER

Artillery Remains Active

LONDON, Fbruary 17. Allied troops on the main Fifth Army front repulsed a small German attack in the Albanita sector. Close fighting at Cassino was not as intense yesterday as it has been, but there were lively artillery, mortar, and machinegun duels. Enemy motor transport travelling up and down the road to Rome was heavily shelled by Allied artillery on the mountains. A correspondent with the Fifth Army said- this morning that Allied guns are pouring thousands of shels a day into the monastery on the hilltop, and into Cassino itself. The guns never seem to cease firing. The Germans are shelling back, although their fire never equals the weight and intensity of the Allied bombardment. The correspondent says, the attackers are making a thorough job of destroying the monastery. He says that the slopes of the monastery hill could give ample cover to German strongpoints, and the real strength of the German positions will not be known until there is actual fighting on these slopes. To get to them would mean crossing the town of Cassino or crossing heavily-mined areas south-west of the town. The greatest danger to the hill comes from Allied troops behind it. Initiative With Allies. The United States Secretary of War, Mr. Stimson, told reporters today that the Allies now hold the initiative on the southern Italian front. He declared that the enemy opposition in the Anzio beach-head had aroused what be described as uncalled-for pessimism. Mr. -Stimson disclosed that since the start of the campaign American casualties totalled- 4158 killed, 18,154 wounded, and 6429 missing. There is news today of the Polish army fighting with the Eighth Army, in Italy. These men originally escaped into Russia at the time of the German invasion of Poland. Nearly two years later, when the Germans attacked Russia, they were formed into a Polish army under General Anders. Eventually he arranged with Marshal Stalin that all the Polish troops and their families should be evacuated through Persia. The troops were trained under British officers in Palestine. Many of them fought at Tobruk, and now they are fighting the enemy in Italy. •