Main Battle In Sicily

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 11, 13 July 1943, Page 3

Main Battle In Sicily

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.)

Kec. 2p;m.i- • . LONDON, July "12. ' The first great battle of Sicily may start in the next few hours, says Eeuter's correspondent at Allied-headquarters in a late dispatch tonight. The Germans are rushing forces east to Agrigento, near Porto Erapedocle, to meet the drive by the Americans, who were last reported at Licata. The Axis also faces the threat of a British thrust through the Syracuse gateway. Two Italian field divisions have been thrust into the. breach for full-scale resistance.

• British troops under General Montgomery are reported tonight to be driving northwards from Syracuse towards Catania, while the Axis is trying to mass forces to meet the thrust. . The., Axis, is believed to have massed its heaviest forces around Trapani and Palermo, where the enemy-anticipates the main assault will be made. Berlin radio claimed that the Axis forces, in the course of heavy battles, succeeded in preventing the junction of the' British' and American forces east of Gela. . The "Daily Mail-' points out that this is the first mention of the British being near Gela. .SATISFACTORY BEGINNING. Although by no means all the landing beaches of Sicily can yet be supposed to- be immune from the enemy's artillery fire, the Allied. forces seem already to be disentangling themselves from- the initial' difficulties that persisted to the end of the Gallipoli expedition, says "The Times" in an editorial.' This, satisfactory beginning was; brought about partly by the priceless advantage of decisive air superiority and: doubtless partly by the enemy's continuing embarrassment in having to be still on guard against possible descents on other coasts of the island. The enemy may have deliberately chosen to reserve his strength for a later effort rather than challenge the landings with his full'power. . The "Daily-Mail" says; "Heavy fightjng is inevitable, but the great thing is that the plunge has been taken and that invasion .of Hitler's Europe has begun." • '■■'■- "The -Allies . are. turning- the mountains of south-east Sicily against the enemy,, by ; using them as a defensive shield* during • the establishment of bridgeheads,, says the military correspondent of the "Daily Express," Morley Richards. "The establishment of bridgeheads is the main task before an ■advance can be made in force. To put an.infantry division into the battlefield requires 12,500 tons of war stores, packed in more than 179,000 cases. This excludes tanks and field pieces, 'which' have 'to be landed separately. It is ar giant undertaking when :it; is remembered that the enemy's field army of 200,000 and nearly as .many men again in static defence, are on the island awaiting the invaders." •• ;. • • • ■ The "New York Times'- says: "There is no doubt that the world is now .witnessing in Sicily and Russia the decisive campaigns of the ' war. The Allies achieved their initial success in Sicily .with' military precision and co-ordination of all arms unequajled in any other military campaign." ; ' .■■".-. V LANDINGS CONTINUE. Allied pilots returning from " the ceaseless bombardment say that the landings seern^ to be going on without serious interferences . Other pilots .who.have been taking a heavy toll of the packed enemy convoys of men and materials moving southwards say' that Vthey included only a small number of tanks. Allied' correspondents point out that over-optimism would be foolish at- this stage, although the Axis resistance so far has; been considerably

less than was expected. Dispatches state that this is particularly true of the resistance of the Axis air force. Enemy bombers carried out occasional attacks -yesterday against Allied shipping, and the attacks were stepped up as the day passed, but up to nightfall there was no determined effort to hold up the advance or to bomb off the Allies from their bridgehead.

A correspondent of the . Exchange Telegraph Agency at advanced British headquarters says that the enemy resistance is stiffest west of Noto, but that the Allies successfully engaged the defenders.