GENERAL PROGRESS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 72, 22 September 1943, Page 6

GENERAL PROGRESS

ITALIAN FRONTS

EARLY BLOW EXPECTED

.(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) Kec. 1.30 p.m. LONDON, Sept. 21. While the Fifth Army's push from the Salerno bridgehead is well under ■way, the only official news of the Eighth Army today is contained in an Allied communique to the effect that its advance continues in face of light opposition. German sources, however, state that the Eighth Army is advancing against Foggia. Berlin radio's commentator, Captain Sertorius, says that the objective of the Allied command is the conquest of the line from- Naples to Foggia. His -guess may be read in conjunction with General Eisenhower's statement that the -Allied forces are getting into position to undertake seriously the major battle against the German, forces in Italy. ' Vichy radio reported tonight that tooth -sides in southern Italy are regrouping their forces and moving up reinforcements. It" added that the main Allied troop concentrations are reported from the Potenza area (Potenza is about 60 miles from Salerno on the main Salerno-Taranto road). The Berlin news agency stated that the Italian troops at the front line before Naples are ready to fight for the British and Americans. BIG SURPRISE READY. General Montgomery has a big surprise ready for the Germans, and the Eighth Army may strike at any moment in a place where the Germans least expect, says the United Press correspondent :at Allied headquarters. Itmay be assumed that the blow will come on a fairly wide front. There is no confirmation at Allied headquarters of reports that our guns have started shelling Naples itself. The position north and north-west of Salerno is that our troops pushing through the Littari mountains on the Sorrento peninsula have taken more strategic villages and beaten back a German counter-attack. The Germans appear to be moving northwards. Northward of Salerno the Germans are still putting up a stiff resistance against any attempts by the Fifth Army to move towards Avellino, although, the main German forces are retreating on this front. : MORE TOWNS CAPTURED. '; The Fifth Army has made progress on all other parts of the Salerno bridgehead. The United Press correspondent with the Fifth Army states that it has captured several more towns (unnamed), all of which are strategically important. The Germans tried to counter-attack yesterday, but were thrown back with heavy losses. They are now being pushed back along the whole Salerno front, and are resorting to extensive demolitions, particularly of bridges, in. the attempt to disengage themselves from the Fifth Army. The Salerno no man's land has been mopped up and consolidated, and what was originally a bridgehead has become the mam point,for the invasion of Italy. The Allies are now making a twopronged air attack against the Germans. Fortresses, Marauders, and Mitchells battered communications in a wide arc around Naples, while light and medium bombers of the tactical air force plastered the Germans falling iback with their supply columns from the Salerno region.