THREAT TO HIGHWAY

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

THREAT TO HIGHWAY

r'GERMAN DANGER INCREASES (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) SRec. 12.30 p.m. LONDON, May 17. An Indian division, after a stiff fight Hast night, captured the important 'fortress town of Pignataro, in the Lin [Valley, reports Reuters correspondent •with the Eighth Army. The Indians [overwhelmed the German resistance on high ground east of the town, and Wight are continuing to mop up lenemy cellars and other hide-outs. f Reuters correspondent at Allied (headquarters says that the Americans Biave captured Scauri, on the coast (almost due south of Spigno, and also jCastellonorato, about half-way between Scauri and Spigno. . ! The German resistance in the J-.iri [Valley was less fierce today. Some of •the enemy have abandoned their equipment, including anti-tank guns in the iface of the continued Allied advance, 'cables Reuters correspondent from the ' JEighth Army front. >•■ Today's developments, the correspondent says, appear to have increased the possibility of the Eighth Army cutting Highway 6, leading to Rome, which is the only exit from Cassino for the Germans. Highway 6 is now under fire from Allied small gunsmortars and machine-guns—making the position of the defenders of Castsino extremely difficult. (fighting around pignataro. iNo details of the capture of Pignattaro are yet available, but the German [news agency's military commentator, Praegner, states that the main battles (yesterday were fought northwest of ipignataro, where strong Allied tank 'and infantry forces, under cover of a smoke screen and supported by massed 'artillery and combat planes, launched ,a series of major attacks aimed at reaching the rear of the German defenders of Cassino Praegner -said that powerful formations of Allied 'tanks appeared yesterday along the whole length of the battlefield. He admitted that the German withdrawal to new defence positions in the rear 'continued all yesterday. Reuters correspondent at Allied headquarters reports that the Germans have pushed scratch troops from the reserve and training areas into battle between Pignataro and Cassino, where the British have advanced in face of savage counter-attacks. Prisoners taken in this sector have been identified as belonging to the 90th Grenadiers, which is the famous 90th Ligh Regiment reformed after the desert 6The British and Indian troops who 'took Pignataro after its encirclement ihave continued to push forward, i The French gained another 4000 /yards in their advance from San [Giorgio, in the southern part of the Eiri Valley, against fierce German opteositlon. Other French forces, driv--sng west from the Ausonia region, have fcroken through more mountain defences and occupied high ground 2§ miles south of Esperia. Reuters correspondent at Allied headquarters says that the Fifth Army 'now holds all the high ground in the [triangle formed by Castellonorato, Spigno, and San Angelo, and have now won their way for one and a half miles into the Aurunci massif. Many German dead lay in and around Castellonorato after the Fifth Army occupied The Americans who seized Castellonorato after scaling abrupt cliff faces attacked downhill into the town, where

they ran into numbers of concrete pill-boxes. Tank destroyers knocked out at j eas t s i x O f these with their 75mm guns. The Americans found *reat numbers of dead in the streets" BRIDGEHEAD ENLARGED. Jh^ ££* bridgehead Ms JJegj of between 4000 and 5000 ypfe and masses of tanks, guns, and supplies are continuing to pour across^nto the Liri Valley. The Adolf Hitler Line, against winch these supplies will be used, consists of a series of steel and concrete pill-boxes, protected by barbed-wire, minefields, and anti-tank and anti-personnel ditches. There are also natural anti-tank obstacles, for instance, deep gullies, and flooded marsh lands. The line below Pontecorvo runs into a mountain mass into which French and American patrols are now thrust"Asides Praegner other German commentators have been turned on tp emphasise the severity of the fighting. The German news agency said tonight that Kesselring's forces have withdrawn 7£ miles during today, and adds:

"The withdrawal was actually wanted by Kesselring. The Allies have not yet reached the main defence system." Berlin radio's commentator, Captain Sertorius, said: "The British and the Americans have thrown in numerous fresh divisions, as a result of which they have gained more ground where the fighting is hottest. The impression prevails' that the enemy for the first time has given up his strategy of saving his man-power." Sertorius refers to masses of troops and material which have never before been employed on such a scale. Hallensleben admits a German withdrawal of about 9} miles since the opening of the Allied offensive. He predicts fresh Allied landings south of Rome. The Paris radio commentator, Jean Paquis, ,says that the Allied command is turning its offensive into a steamroller. Today's German High Command communique states that a battle of equipment on the greatest scale is raging along a front of 22 miles in the mountainous area of the Italian southern front, with an incessant drumfire barrage, very strong air attacks, and extensive use of tanks and mobile artillery. "Our troops face a great enemy preponderance of strength," it says, "and has been heroically resisting for six days. Disengaging movements are progressing according to plan." The communique says there has been no fighting of importance in the Nettuno beach-head, but that the enemy artillery fire, which has been mounting in. intensity for several days, suggests that a large-scale attack will be launched soon.