CRITICAL STAGE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 66, 15 September 1943, Page 5

CRITICAL STAGE

ALLIES LOSE GROUND

GALLIPOLI RECALLED

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) Eec. 11 a.m. LONDON, Sept. 14. There is every indication that the battle on the Salerno front is increasing in intensity and has reached a critical stage. At least two correspondents liken the battle to the bloody struggle on the beaches of Gallipoli in 1915.

Berlin radio is making sweeping claims far beyond anything from the German High Command, but the latest reports from Allied headquarters give no ground for extreme pessimism. On the contrary, Reuters correspondent describes the struggle as one of ebb and flow, and all sources emphasise that reinforcements are flowing in.

The British United Press says that the Germans-, have thrown in more armoured units in a do-or-die attack.. The Fifth Army has lost ground in places, but the battle is still going on day and night. The Germans' attacks are most serious, especially around Salerno. RESERVES THROWN IN. . Dispatches from Allied headquarters in North Africa, reporting that General Eisenhower is throwing in fresh reserves to the Salerno bridgehead, add:—"The Mediterranean is alive with, ships and planes carrying reinforcements."

Berlin radio declared this evening: "The Anglo-American invasion has collapsed, and the fate of the whole operation is already sealed. The greater part of the landing troops have been either killed or taken prisoner. Victory in the battle for Naples goes to the German arms."

A German communique states: "Fierce fighting is going on north of Salerno with British divisions which are defending themselves desperately. We repelled enemy attacks south of Eboli early yesterday, after which we went over to the offensive on a broad front, and the enemy was driven back to his landing point. -Hard battles are in progress south-east of Ebqli. The British and American casualties are very heavy."

CONTRADICTORY REPORTS. Tonight there is a flood of contradictory and confusing reports from Allied and German sources. While some Allied correspondents state that the Allies are attacking steadily and have firmly established the coastal area, the German news agency claimed that German tanks and grenadiers, advancing from the hills to the plain, reached the town of Salerno and the coast. The news agency added that the Germans caught up with' and surprised strong Allied units which they cut off from the landing places. "The Germans are now engaged in breaking down the last remnants of disorderly resistance in the streets," it said. Vichy radio declared that the town of Salerno has changed hands several times in the latest fighting. The Berlin correspondent of the Stockholm newspaper "Aftonbladet" states that Allied forces have started a withdrawal by sea from Salerno. Reuters Algiers correspondent says that the Fifth Army is fighting magnificently, with complete confidence in its strength. General Eisenhower is making a determined bid to throw back the enemy's powerful counterthrusts, which have been going on for more than 100 hours. There is no slackening in'the terrific tempo of the struggle along the 24-mile bridgehead. General Clark's troops still hold imgortant passes north and south of alerno. Field-Marshal Kesselring's men are firmly installed in the hills a few miles inland, and the Allies are making great efforts to dislodge them. The pattern of the battle remains almost unchanged. Reuters correspondent adds that accurate information about casualties is not available, but because of the fierceness of the fighting they are likely to be heavy on both sides. (Berlin radio claimed that between 8000 and 10.000 American troops were killed in the Eboli fighting and a similar number taken prisoner.)

Reuter says that the landings in North Africa and Sicily were child's play compared with those on the Salerno beaches, which the German artillery was able to cover.

ABB OPPOSITION INCREASES

An Allied spokesman described the fighting as "certainly the most bitter encountered by any landing force during the war." The Associated Press of Great Britain says that Field-Marshal Kesselring is using panzers and infantry in an effort to hurl the British and Americans back to the sea, while overhead- hundreds of Allied fighters are engaged against an increasing German air effort. Germans on the mountain slopes delivered a murderous artillery fire towards the beaches and launched counter-attack after counter-attack.

The British United Press agrees that the German counter-attacks are serious, especially around Salerno itself

several points. Our troops are trying to reach a low line of hills which command our present positions. Once these are reached we shall not only have eliminated the worst artillery fire, but will command the enemy away to the east. The enemy at present is able to sweep our landing beaches at many points. Three crack divisions face the Fifth Army, namely, the 15th and 16th panzer divisions and the Hermann Goering division. They escaped from Tunisia and then from Sicily. They are undoubtedly tough fighters.

CONTINUED CLAIMS,

Berlin radio continues to claim that the Germans have achieved a great victory in the Salerno-Eboli sector. "The American formation in the bridgehead south of Salerno has been in disorderly flight to the coast to reach its ships since late yesterday," it says. "In the circumstances the position of the British in the SalernoAmalfi sector has become untenable. It can be only a matter of hours before they take flight. The battle is not yet finished, but it can safely be concluded that we have inflicted a defeat comparable with Dunkirk and Dieppe." According to Berlin radio big Canadian forces are participating in the Salerno offensive. Captain Sertorius stated that the Americans had had little fighting experience and that their casualties were partly to be explained by the fact that for the first time they were making their, acquaintance of German weapons which had so far been used only on the Eastern Front. Claiming that the Fifth Army had largely been wiped out, Berlin radio said it consisted of the 36th and 45th American infantry divisions, and the First United States Tank Division, and that forces of the British 10th Army Corps, which are attached to the Fifth Army; consist of the 46th and 56th British infantry divisions and the First British tank division. Paris radio's commentator, Jean Paquis, referring to one German counter-attack, said that as a last resort the Allied Command threw some units of the United States Seventh Army into the battle, "but even these crack American troops were unable to change the fortune of a battle that had been lost already." An Algiers air communique says that medium bombers and light bombers of the North-west African Air Force attacked road junctions, railways, and enemy transport in the Potenza area and also the railway junctions of Torre del Greco and Pompeii (Naples), and in the Sala Consilina area, south-east of Salerno. Fighters yesterday destroyed ten enemy aircraft over the battle area. ■ Algiers radio says that violent opposition to the German occupying forces is spreading in northern Italy, where sabotage strikes*are going on. Street fighting is occurring in Rome. Italian troops are challenging Germans from Trieste to Albania.