TROOPS STAND FIRM

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

TROOPS STAND FIRM

All-Out Enemy Attack In Beach-head (British Official Wireless.) , BUGBY, February 20. , ~l e British and American troops are standing firm in the beach-head area, under the fiercest storm of gunfire they have yet faced in Italy,” wrote a correspondent ou Saturday. "The battle is now a test case for Hitler. If we stand our ground here the German people will be hard' to convince of the invulnerability of the western Wall, and therefore it is realized that the enemy will accept tlie heaviest losses to maintain tlie momentum of his attack. We on the beach-head are determined to frustrate it.” The correspondent adds: “The enemy’s all-out attack made sonic slight gain on Friday, and succeeded in pushing a short distance down tlie main road, but in savage fighting for a road junction some distance below Carrocetto tlie enemy has been unable to gain any advantage from the advance. The firm defence of our troops and the enemy’s.heavy losses may make the present position uncomfortable for him. “On Saturday morning we counter-at-tacked vigorously and plastered the Germans with the weight of our artillery. The attack of the Germans is an all-out effort to push us into the sea. Elements of four divisions are now fighting in the bulge with the support of Tiger tanks. Night lighting is particularly fierce. The German thrusts usually begin with furious artillery preparation, and they then adopt infiltration tactics, with rejected men getting behind the forward positions in the dark.”