THE HITLER LINE

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

THE HITLER LINE

CLOSELY-PACKED SYSTEM LONDON, May 17. Reuters correspondent with the Eighth Army says: "General Alexander's offensive generally is proceeding according to plan. Distances are not our objective, but rather neutralisation and destruction of the enemy's forces in Italy. Kesselring is now manning the Adolf Hitler Line, to which the Germans are rolling back. Reports coming in describe the line as the most closely-packed defence system encountered throughout the war." Describing the Gustav Line, the "Daily Mail's" correspondent in Italy says: "There are no massive fortifications and underground cities of the Maginot pattern. It is much more grim and sordid. There are a maze of holes big enough to hold a curledup man, cunning observation posts, and machine-gun emplacements in passage-ways. "I saw hundreds of holes. It must have been held for our infantrymen to come upon these one-man strongpoints after crossing the river under mortar-fire and through the mine-' strewn fields. There are chains of such holes along the roads and tracks. They are four feet long and two feet deep, and have an embankment above them to give protection from bomb or shell. "The idea is that if the advancing Allied troops get too close to the first hole every defender moves back with a quick dash of not more than five yards to the next hole. Of course, if the tenant of the first hole is killed there is no need for anybody to go back. Perhaps this explains why our men are not making giant strides forward."