SICILIAN DEFENCE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 24, 28 July 1943, Page 3

SICILIAN DEFENCE

ALLIES PUSHING ON

Rec. 2 p.m. . LONDON, July 27, The threat to the Axis defence line in Sicily has become ominous, according to Reuters Algiers correspondent. "The Americans are sweeping along the coastal highway towards Messina, the Canadians are striking north-east in the centre, and the Eighth Army is steadily pounding the approaches to Catania," he says. The correspondent of the British United Press at Algiers says that the last battle for the remaining portion of Sicily held by the Axis seems likely to begin at any moment. Fierce artillery duels are going on in the extreme south-east, where the Germans still hold considerable bridgeheads covering Catania. Preparations for the main battle appear to be continuing. The fiercest fighting is going on further north, where the Canadians were last reported to be roughly twelve miles north-east of Enna. They had apparently by-passed Leonforte, leaving them only about ten miles from Reealbuto, where the enemy is expected to make a major stand. Regalbuto is the junction of two parts of the Axis line, manned on the south by Germans, and on the north by Italians. The Americans on the north coast are making one of the speediest advances so far. Another thirty miles beyond Cefalu will bring them against what is likely to be the main Axis defence position on' the coast, in the neighbourhood of Santa Agata. The British United Press correspondent with the Eighth Army, writing from the plain of Catania on Sunday, said: "The Germans are still rushing reinforcements to Sicily. Gliders are putting them down on the flat little plateaux and fields, while lighters are bringing men into coves and beaches on the north coast. Many of the reinforcements are formed of units hastily mobilised from German troops in cities like Naples, Reggio di Calabria, and Brindisi. Despite the reinforcements the Axis appears to be preparing for a major delaying action rather than a big defensive stand, and is taking advantage of the comparative lull to blow up bridges, culverts, and river crossings before the line which is being prepared around Mount Etna. Forward units are busy building trenches and new gun positions and laying down extensive mine fields."