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Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 125, 23 November 1944, Page 7

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ALLIES IN ITALY

IMPORTANT GAINS

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) Rec. 11 a.m. LONDON, November 22. Eighth Army British troops west of Forli captured the fortified village of Castiglione and advanced beyond the village' to the Cosina River, states an Allied communique from Italy. Poles of the Eighth Army further west recaptured Monte Fortino against strong resistance and advanced over a mile beyond to seize an important feature, Monte Piano. Heavy fighting continues. In the Fifth Army sector, British, American, and Indian troops beat off several strong raids and took prisoners.

Eighth Army troops have only four miles to go before reaching Faenza, says Reuters Rome correspondent. They made the most important gains of the week by capturing Castiglione and pushing one mile beyond the town. Fifth Army forces, who simultaneously attacked, advanced beyond Modigliana in the Apennines, west of Forli.

The Eighth Army launched two attacks on the Germans defending Faenza. Two Allied spearheads are being aimed at Faenza, one by United Kingdom troops and the other by Polish troops. The English spearhead moved forward in a silent attack— there was no artillery barrage—and within a few hours the troops had gained a good deal of the ridge ahead of it and had pushed on as far as the

Cosina River, about four miles southeast of Faenza. At midnight, the Germans counter-attacked, but the attack came to nothing. The Polish spearhead is aimed at Faenza along another ridge on the far side of the Cosina. The troops began to move forward during last night with heavy artillery support, and by this morning the troops had got roughly abreast of the English troops across the river.