NEW OBJECTIVE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 5, 8 January 1944, Page 6

NEW OBJECTIVE

THE FIFTH ARMY

• HUNDREDS OF PRISONERS (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright.) Rec. 2 p.m. LONDON, January 7. Allied fighter-bombers, leap-frogging the key village of San Vittore, where the German defences are crumbling under the Fifth Army's blows, are striking against the next objective— Cervaro. This village, two miles northwest of San Vittore, is the last defensive, position before Cassino, says Reuters Algiers correspondent. Bitter hand-to-hand fighting is going on in the streets of San Vittore, which is virtually encircled. The Germans are hurriedly converting Cervaro into a fortress similar to San Vittore and San Pietro. Allied pilots spotted troop concentrations and gun emplacements, which, despite the most unfavourable weather, have been subjected to heavy air" attacks. The Fifth Army is forcing its way slowly and steadily forward along a 10-mile front. Fifth Army men north of the Cassino "road to Rome captured the. 3500-foot Mount Majo, five miles north-west of Venafro, cutting the German supply route to Cervaro. Three German strong-points at San Vittore are offering particularly strong resistance. They are now under systematic attack. The Fifth Army has taken at least several hundred prisoners in its new drive, and scores more are being brought in daily. Many of the prisoners had in their pockets when captured pamphlets which were shot from our guns. The German news agency's military commentator says it may be deduced from the increasing activity on the Italian front that the enemy considers the time has.come to launch a general offensive. The arrival of further reserves for both the Fifth and the Eighth Armies,.and .also the transfer of General Clark's headquarters, he says, warrants the conclusion that the present attacks are a transition stage to a large-scale assault against the German front in southern Europe.