BRIDGEHEAD HOLDS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 67, 16 September 1943, Page 5

BRIDGEHEAD HOLDS

TERRIFIC GERMAN ATTACKS Rec. 12.20 p.m. RUGBY, Sept. i6. The news from Salerno generally tends towards some lessening of the anxiety that has been felt in the past 48 hours. As today's communique points out, despite furious attacks by German armour and the necessity of the Fifth Army yielding some ground, the Allied bridgehead still holds. Apparently terrific German attacks with giant Tiger tanks have not succeeded in splitting the Allied front in two. The beaches remain in British and American hands, and supplies and reinforcements are being poured ashore.

Even the German wireless today abandoned its talk of "evacuation" and admitted, "The enemy, who were thrown back yesterday, are making a renewed stand near the coast under cover of naval artillery. " Actually, in the face of furious attacks by the cream of the German armoured divisions, the Allied troops have accomplished a wonderful feat in holding on as they have done. It remains to be seen whether these attacks have exhausted themselves or can be maintained, but in any event the Allies can look forward to the arrival of further reinforcements from the sea and also to the arrival of the Eighth Army, which is unlikely to be long delayed. The Salerno situation has had a sobering effect upon a section of the public which a week ago was anticipating speedy victories. It is considered fairly evident in London that the main German at-

tacks are on both sides of the River Sele on the plain south of Salerno. Three German divisions so far identified are the Fifteenth Panzer Division, restored after the North African campaign, the Hermann Goering Division from Tunisia, and the Sixteenth Panzer Division from Stalingrad.. There will no- doubt be other units which the Allied forces will meet, but accurate assessment of the German strength is not possible at the moment.

While the present time is clearly one of anxiety, and while any loss of ground at this stage is of importance out of proportion to its size, there is no occasion for gloom, military experts say.

A North African communique states, "In spite of stiff enemy resistance and air interference, troops with their supplies and equipment continue to be disembarked on the beaches in the Salerno area by the British and United States navies, working under ViceAdmiral Hewitt, U.S.N. In one day one United States cruiser fired 355 rounds on enemy tanks and machine-gun nests. The Allied naval forces continue to assist the army movements in the Taranto area and the advance of the Eighth Army on the coast of Calabria. The island of Capri, near Naples, was occupied by an Allied force on the afternoon of September 12. The defence of the island remains with the Italian military and naval authorities, who are co-operating.with ours. To the south the Eighth Army continues to make progress. Our troops have reached Belvedere, on the east coast road. Operations in the Taranto sector are proceeding according to plan.—B.O.W.