CAPUA CAPTURED

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 87, 9 October 1943, Page 7

CAPUA CAPTURED

LONDON, October 8. The Fifth Army in Italy has captured the town of Capua, on the Volturno River, about 20 miles north of Naples. Eighth Army troops have gained more ground on the Adriatic coast after beating off heavy German counter-attacks. British and American troops of the Fifth Army are now standing on a 17-mile stretch of the Volturno River, between Capua and the coast. There is so far no word that they have crossed the river, iwhich-is'about 100 feet wide at Capua. 'A correspondent at Allied headquarters in Algiers reports that the Germans are hastily manning the defences on the north bank of the Volturno.

To reach Capua the Allied troops 'advanced nine miles in several days of hard fighting, slogging through , thick mud and blinding rain, mopping up many pockets of resistance, and overcoming road blocks. Capua is the most important town in the Volturno sector; the main road and railway to Rome pass through it, and it ihas an airfield. . . , , _ , On the Adriatic coast the right flank of the Eighth Army is still engaged dn fierce fighting with strong German forces. The enemy has counter-attack-ed again and again at Termoli in the past day or two, but General Montgomery^ men liave' thrown back all ithese assaults and have followed them up with a ; strong and successful attack which gained them some of the high ground behind the town. It is now established that it was the 16th Panzer Division which was sent across Italy to oppose the Eighth Army. A correspondent says that although this division contains a number of non-German troops, it is still very full of fight, ... Troops from six German divisions have been identified along the Italian front; this is one division more than ■the enemy had in Salerno, and a correspondent says it is possible that the Germans have been reinforced.

Heavy rain yesterday held up flying except for fighter and fighter-bomber attacks on transport, mainly on the Eighth Army front. On the airfields so far captured by the Allied forces nearly 700 enemy aircraft have fallen into' our hands.