DRIVING DEEPER

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 126, 30 May 1944, Page 5

DRIVING DEEPER

ALLIED ARMOURED WEDGES (By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright I Rec. .11.15 a.m. LONDON, May 29. The British and American beachhead forces are driving armoured wedges deeper into Kesselring's last ditch defences before Rome, the Vel-letri-Valmontone line, says Reuters correspondent at Allied headquarters. American spearheads advancing along the coastal route are now within a -mile of Campoleone, with only 16 miles to go to Rome. The Allied forces driving towards Valmontone overlook and control Highway 6 from a distance of about one mile. Thus they have virtually severed the link between the Germans in the Alban Hills and those further south. . While still counter-attacking furiously in the effort to hold off the Fifth Army from the Velletri-Valmon-tone area, Kesselring has begun to accelerate the withdrawal of his troops facing the Eighth Army, says the "Daily Mail's" correspondent at Allied headquarters. Counter-attacks in the neighbourhood of C.eprano and Arce suddenly ceased, after which the Germans withdrew so speedily that in one sector the British found themselves advancing without opposition. RESISTANCE AROUND ARCE. The mountain drive in the eastern section of the.front continues northwards against generally light resistance. French troops are pushing on after the capture of Mount Siserno and Villa San Stefano, while Eighth Army troops are cleaning up hills north-west of Roccasecca. Although Mount Orio, which dominates Arce from the southwest, has been taken, German paratroops are putting up a fierce rearguard resistance on Mount Grande, one mile south of Arce. Their only possible escape route lies northwards through Avezzano over a narrow mountain road which is being constantly bombed. The fall of Arce would unlock the northern clasp of, Highway 6 roadblock, which is already half demolished after the capture of Ceprano. Units of the Eighth Army are hastily improvising bridges across the Liri and Sacco rivers and harrying the German rearguard. The Allies here have pushed five miles further west and are now only 6_ miles from Frosinone. "The Times" correspondent says that whenever the Allied troops begin to approach the Velletri-Valmontone line they meet with stiffer resistance and