NEW ZEALANDERS ADVANCE

Dominion, Volume 38, Issue 20, 18 October 1944, Page 7

NEW ZEALANDERS ADVANCE

Battle For Canal STRONG DEFENCES OVERCOME (Official War Correspondent, N.Z.E.F.) GATTEO, October 15. The line of the Rigosso Canal, where the Germans made determined attempts to halt us, is now broken in a number of places. The villages of Gambettola and San Angelo are in New Zealand hands. The fighting has divided itself into two well-defined areas as the enemy sought to hold the most heavily defended areas in the front of these towns. A southern battalion thrust past Gatteo to tjje line of the canal two days ago, but yesterday a strong German counter-attack with the support of tanks and self-propelled guns, forced a small withdrawal. Meanwhile the Canadians on our. left slowly battled their way into a position where they threatened to turn the naturally powerful Gambettola defences. This morning, our men went in before the first light. They reached the Rigosso Canal and. swarmed across, catching the usual small number of the enemy by surprise. By dawn they were over and into Gambettola itself. Resistance was weak, but a total of nearly 30. prisoners was taken as they worked their way through the town. The advance didn’t stop here, however. The infantry kept going till held up by the Spandau nests from across the roads north of Gambettola. That is the position at last light.today; but much more has been happening behind the most forward troops.

The bridging of the canal is a major engineering, feat, requiring the construction of a 100 ft. Bailey bridge, hut the New Zealanders did not wait for this. At an early hour today a bridge was dropped across the impassable centre strip, and soon the tanks, tank destroyers and infantry support weapons were lumbering down the steep bank and up the other side. Well before noon there were tanks and self-propelled guns in strategic positions in Gambettola. Elsewhere a ford was used, and later in the day another improvised bridge was carrying a share of the traffic. Maoris’ Hard Task.

Meanwhile the Maoris were having trouble in the San Angelo area. Their first attack two days ago came within an ace of success, but a strong German counter-attack caught them before they were dug in, aud paratroops supported by “Hornets” forced them back. San Angelo remained a thorn in the side of our advance all yesterday, but last night the Maoris tried again, and in (he face of Spandau aud mortar fire cleared the town, the enemy giving ground grudgingly. This morning there was still very active Spandau nests on the northern and eastern outskirts. The whole German line seemed to be pivoting on a hinge located just beyond San Angelo. Marshy ground between the village aud the coast minimizes the risk to the Germans of swift movement here. However, by the afternoon a fresh contingent ot Maoris secured a bridgehead over the canal bqyond San Angelo, turning what had been a military problem into an engineering one. Official documents backed by aerial photographs reveal what no map of this locality does. It is true low country. Nowhere outside Holland has Europe a comparable system of canals, ditches and streams. In hundreds of square miles one cannot proceed more than 1000yds. without meeting natural obstacles. Every ditch and stream requires a bridge before heavy weapons can get forward to cover the infantry. Engineers are laying a road literally beneath the army’s wheels. The weather is holding fine, and .while this prevails we will advance. Rigosso was the most important barrier for some miles, but there are others almost within sight.

FURTHER ADVANCES

Fighting In Italy

LONDON, October 17. Canadians of the Eighth Army have pushed forward on a broad front along the road to Bologna from Rimini. Further inland other Eighth Army troops are now approaching the Favia River. Americans of the Fifth Army are engaged in bitter fighting south of Bologna, mid have advanced another 1000 yards.