BRENNER BATTLE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 31, 6 February 1945, Page 6

BRENNER BATTLE

ALLIED AIR ATTACKS

VITAL ENEMY SUPPLY LINE Rec. 11.20 a.m. RUGBY, Feb. 5,

Large forces of Mitchell medium bombers and fighter-bombers today continued .the battle of Brenner, says a correspondent in Italy. Landslides were created over the tracks of the railway after an attack on a deep cutting through which the vital line passes at San Ambrogio, 20 miles north of Verona. Two bridges received attention. Meanwhile Thunderbolts cut the ■ Brenner line at eight places and the Brenner by-pass line, which provides an alternative route from Verona and Trento, was severed in four places. Liberators and Fortresses today bombed by instrument an oil target at Regensburg, but the results could not be observed.

By putting a section of the Avisio Viaduct on rollers and rolling it back in the daytime, the Germans sought to deceive the Allied reconnaissance in the battle on the Brenner Pass line, reports a correspondent. At night the bridge was rolled back into place and supplies were brought across. STRANGE CAMPAIGN. General Eaker, the Allied air commander in the Mediterranean area, described the battle of the Brenner Pass, fought along the 125 miles main artery of German supplies to the Italian front, as one of the strangest campaigns in the Mediterranean theatre. It has been a battle of bombs and flak, waged continuously during the past seven months. Brenner had 40 trains daily in each direction, and the Germans were using it to the full when the battle started. They are employing a quarter of their heavy guns and 12 per cent, of their light anti-aircraft guns along the route, according to General Eaker's estimate.

Allied experts revised their methods in attempts to nullify the flak threat. Attacks from north or south became impossible, and the heavy bombers were limited to east-west runs. Weak points along the line were five bridges, namely the Avisio Viaduct, and the Ora, Mezzecorona, Bolzano, and Albes bridges. The Germans placed expert repair crews, skilled engineers, and bridging materials at all vulnerable places, and reconnaissance photographs taken 48 hours after major attacks have shown large bridges, which were left sagging over the river, unserviceable.

General Eaker added that industry in north Italy did not play a vital role in the Axis war production and therefore the Brenner route was of the greatest importance. Italian industry did not play a part of the first importance even before the Italian armistice. After the armistice the Germans stripped the Italian plants and sent large quantities of industrial equipment to Germany. These were either used to replace equipment destroyed by air bombardments or were allotted to expanding industries. Industrial activity in northern Italy at present is at a low level.—B.O.W.