Battle Of Liri Valley

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 116, 18 May 1944, Page 5

Battle Of Liri Valley

ALLIED BARRAGE

LONDON, May 17. The Eighth Army, attacking with tanks and infantry in the fliri Valley, has today been locked, in some of the grimmest fighting lof the Italian campaign. The battle, proceeded with mounting fury as Allied tanks and infantry went into the attack. The dawn barrage, with even more -guns in action than on the opening night, was the signal for attacks 'by the waiting infantry, and overhead our planes swept across the ,-deep German defence zone to begin a day-long offensive which fell r|on the German gun and mortar positions with paralysing effect. ' The Fifth Army is battling towards the Adolf Hitler Line after (.(overrunning the southern part of the Gustav Line.

A correspondent at the front says .., l n ~ <■ i l [there was hardly a moment of the day when the air was not throbbing with the roar of Allied planes. The sky Was like the Battle of Britain days, ' |but all the planes seemed to be ours. I Behind this tremendous curtain of ■ fchell-fire and bombs, British infantry Und tanks were heavily engaged against the German defences spread over the scattered fields of the Liri iValley—earthworks and defence points cunningly concealed in fields, in bankings, and in scores of ruined houses, 'It was hard to see what was going on ibecause a great yellow dust-cloud jblanketed the valley and the moun[tain sides. The crash of guns and the fe? fl^httae a^de^eratT °straSfle feamst the lefenderfof Highwafe! tl?e vital highway from Cafsino to See-gu^%?™onoSps ha tVoeiLTdhedth^ northern hinge of their line. A senior officer told a correspondent: "I haven't seen so many German dead [for a long time." At least one batch !of Germans came in with a white flag,

sand the state of the prisoners shows the ordeal byi fire they are undergoing (from our massed barrage. i From the northern flank of the [Allied •assault line, in the vicinity of Cassino and its hills, there has been (little news so far, but a correspondent isays: "Watch this sector; the spotlight lis inevitably falling here, for the 'threat to Cassino is obvious." On the mountain sides and in the (gorges . north-west -of Cassino the [Polish troops are maintaining their positions with. great spirit against crack German. paratroops. The Gerirnans still hold Monastery Hill, and [can send down a withering fire on the troops on the slopes below, but the 'gallant Polish division has made some [progress on the heights north-west of Cassino. . "A great military achievement' is ihow a correspondent refers to the Overrunning of the German position lin the southern part of the Gustav (Line. He says that the Fifth Army, in Sour or five days' fighting, has broken fclean through the Gustav Line. Most of the German artillery has withdrawn 'from the line from the River Liri to jthe sea. He emphasises that it is not ■possible to exploit this break-through •quickly. Having forced its way jthrough ' one tangle of fortified hills, ithe offensive is now faced by another jwhich is organised for defence as was fthe Hitler Line. The turning of the Gustav Line in the south does not {necessarily mean that the rest of it is [Untenable.