WARSHIPS JOIN IN

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 125, 22 February 1944, Page 5

WARSHIPS JOIN IN

Help For Beach-Head Defenders GERMAN ATTACK FAILS LONDON, February 2 I. Reports from Italy say that, another full-scale German attack on the Anzio beach-head with six divisions has been beaten back after 48 hours of bitter fighting. - ’ The' Allied forces had the support of tanks, artillery and the fire of warships in the bay. Very heavy casualties were inflicted on the Germans and the main weight of the Allied air attack was directed against the enemy in the beach-head.

LONDON, February 20.

Field-Marshal Kesselring’s mauled divisions have relinquished the initiative in the past 36 hours, says a correspondent of the Associated Press of Grea 1 Britain in the Anzio beach-head. He adds: “The German losses are believe! to be so great that they will be unabl: to launch another attack on a similar scale. American tanks and infantry have penetrated deeply into the east flank of the triangular salient which the Germans established at great cost. Ine beach-head was never more secure than it is today.” Reuter’s correspondent at the beacuhZad says that the Allies have the situa tion well in hand. Kesselrings total gains were less than 3000 yards. Ifie Germans, in an attack down the Carro-cetto-Anzio road, used six divisions. Uui counter-attacks wiped out part of the German gains, which were bought at great cost during three days of very bloody fighting along the narrow salient The rest of the enemy’s penetration is now being rapidly reduced as our infantry and tank counter-attacks drive the German spearheads steadily back along the road. • ~ The Allies took prisoner 300 Germans yesterday, making a total of about 500 since February 16. The British yesterday took prisoner 100 Germans wh" were sheltering in a farmhouse. They were hungry, almost without ammunition and dazed by shellfire. German dead utter the main road south of Carrocelto. Frequently more than 100 can be counted within a small area. 2000 Enemy Casualties. Some enemy battalions lost 60 per cent, of their effectives. Reuter estimates that the Germans since the start of the battle have suffered 2000 casualties. The Allies artillery bombardments have so disorganized enemy communications that supplies are being dropped, by parachute. Attacking enemy formations were clearly visible to the Allies as they formed up on the sandy flat stretch which constituted tli-> main beach-head battlefield. These clear indications were readily accepted by Allied gunners with deadly results for the enemy. British and Americans in a series ot counter-attacks have reached positions less than two miles from Carrocettc There is a strong possibility of a renewal of the German attack after FieldMarshal Kesselring sorts out his batter ed battalions and repairs his shattered lines of communication, concludes Reu ter. The Allied positions on the Fifth Army front at Anzio have improved, reports a communique from advanced headquarters in Italy. Violent fighting has •taken place in the past 24 hours, both sides employing tanks and infantry, with strong artillery support. They have also been very active in the air. (Ve inflicted heavy casualties on the enem.j. On the main Fifth Army front we maintained strong pressure against the enemy in Cassino and in the mountains west of the town. We consolidated newly-won. hill positions. British troops elsewhere on this front repulsed two counter-attacks. The Allies captured more than 100 prisoners, including three company commanders. Positions Restored. Algiers radio quoted a headquarters staff -officer as stating that the second German attempt to eliminate the Anzio beachhead had failed. The officer said that the main German thrust was heavy, but that the Allied forward positions were penetrated only twice, and that the position was quickly/ restored after counterattacks.

General Clark, after inspecting the beach-head, said that more German blows could be expected, but that the enemy was having increasing difficulty in finding a soft spot in the Allied line. Rome radio says that the big battle in the Anzio beach-head continued last night without pause and that this morning its intensity had greatly increased. The Germans for the first time are using a large number of Tiger tanks in the invasion area.

The Combined British Press correspondent in a delayed dispatch, from the beach-head reports that a British battalion which has been surrounded for three days has not yielded an inch of ground, though the enemy is well behind \it. The battalion on Friday night was Still fighting from trenches dug before the enemy launched his attack three nights previously. Cassino Almost Surrounded. Dispatches from, correspondents in Algiers state that the town of Cassino is almost surrounded. The first phase of the new Allied attack against Cassino ended with the capture. of two heights necessary for successful operation against the monastery hill, says “The Times” Algiers correspondent. Some Gurkhas fought their way almost to the gates of the monastery, but were forced to fall back. Through pitch darkness small groups of men fought desperately for concrete pillboxes and machinegun nests hewn from the hill face and crawled up steep slopes under barlages ot bursting mortar shells. Ihe British United Press correspondent with the Fifth Army says that the Allies have silenced enemy rifle grenade and mortar tire within Cassino. The town is less than a mile long, with the Allies holding one end and the Germans the other. The Allied Mediterranean air forces have won a great tactical victory over ibe Anzio beach-head in the past four weeks, m which they have shot down oib enemy planes for the Joss of 106. The , alr between February 12 o'-"' f ’ eb - r ( > ar J 19 sorties, compared with the enemy s 605.