NOTES ON THE WAR

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

NOTES ON THE WAR

SALERNO BATTLE

IT>¥(P fCJCJITE'C'- AT CTAFC BIG ISSUES Al bIAaK.

Simultaneously with the fall of Bryansk and the Red Army's advance in Russia and the important success or the Pacific Allies at Salamaua in the New Guinea campaisrn, now drawing to a favourable conclusion at La_e, conies the news of fierce fighting m the Allied Salerno bridgehead in Italy. Here big issues are at stake.

The recovery of Bryansk is another major victory for the Red Army. It was not only one of the greatest, of the German "hedgehogs" in Russia, but a most important rail centre for lateral communications with various points on the German 1941-43 front. It is equally important to the Russians, as it reopens the, Moscow-Kiev line from the Soviet capital as far south as Konotop and Bakhmach, a splendid supply line for the £)esna River front. The Russians are *now approaching Nezhin and Prihiki on the way to Kiev, while further south they are gradually "liquidating" the hard core of German resistance, south of the Konotop-Kharkov line and including obstinate strongholds like Lozoraya and Poltava. Due south of these places the Donbas army is working towards the Dnieper bend at Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhe and the main line to the Crimea. It is to be noted that Eurqpean Russia's greatest ironfield, the Krivoi Rog, lies on the other side of the Dnieper in the "elbow" of the bend; Without ore from this field the Donbas will be somewhat handicapped. The Russian advance in south Russia is imperilling the German bridgehead in the Kuban and the German forces in the Crimea. The fall of Novorossisk into Russian hands may be expected any time.

A Critical Stage

In Italy the Germans are putting up a different sort of fight, and at the Allied bridgehead—still not much more than a beachhead—on the shore of the Gulf of Salerno the British and American forces comprising the Fifth Army are being subjected to most determined attacks with tanks and artillery from the vantage point of higher ground with a cover of orchards and other vegetation. It is clear that here the battle for Italy has reached a stage approaching the critical. The Allies landed on one of the few beaches feasible for "amphibious operations" along the whole west coast of southern Italy, and the Germans, knowing this, had made all sorts of preparations to meet them. The ground is not so favourable to the.Allies as it was in the Sicilian landings: To the _ north lies the rugged Sorrento Peninsula, held by the enemy and commanding with long-range guns a wide sweep of the beaches to Salerno City and beyond. An Allied attempt to seize the gorge of the Naples road apparently failed after a fierce battle. The Germans have endeavoured to follow up the advantage with strong attacks and have forced the Allies to give ground at some points, according to the news Help doming

Isolated, with only long-range air support from Sicily, the Allies would undoubtedly be in a serious position, for the enemy could concentrate superior forces more quickly; and at less risk than the Allies could land them on the beaches. Fortunately, help is on the way. The Eighth Army's operations further south from Taranto and from the toe of Italy have reached points less than 100 miles away, and more important, have freed numerous airfields in Apulia—the peninsula of the "heel" of Italy—and round Taranto, from which the Allied air forces can bring their superiority in numbers and quality to bear on the enemy. For the next few days almost everything will depend on the Air Force. They are already giving better air cover with fighters, while the bombers are getting to work on all enemy communications leading to Salerno. If they dm keep it up with increasing force, while the Eighth Army battles'forward through difficult country to the flank and rear of the Germans, the enemy may find themselves in a very awkward position. But it must be recognised that the Germans are far stronger in Italy than they were in Sicily or Tunisia and can draw on reserves from occupied Europe still unattacked. Hence .there is much, indeed, at stake in the next few days. There is hardly a doubt that the Allied High Command took risks at Salerno to hasten a decision in the European theatre of war. General Eisenhower, in his choice of the mainland of Italy rather than Sardinia and Corsica,' has admitted as much in an interview summarised in the news. If Hitler, as the news would indicate, is throwing everything into the southern front of Europe—ltaly and the Balkans —there might be an opportunity for the Allies to intervene elsewhere. This is one of the most dramatic phases of the war.