AT GATES OF CATANIA

Evening Star, Issue 24920, 19 July 1943, Page 3

AT GATES OF CATANIA

Bitter Fighting On Plain ALLIES ADVANCING ON ALL SECTORS Bee. 11.55 a.m.)" RUGBY, July 18. One-third of Sicily is now in Allied hands, according to afternoon Press messages from North African headquarters, and in the last 24 hours the Allies have advanced on every sector 1 . A considerable battle is believed to be taking place in the northern part of the plain of Catania. The enemy is resisting strongly, and latest reports are of very bitter fighting just south of Catania. The great prize is the chain of airfields from which all • Eastern Sicily can be dominated. Long-range guns in the ...hills to the south may have the aerodromes under fire. Hundreds of truck loads of enemy infantry have been seen • pouring down into the northern part of the plain from the slopes around Etna. Whoever controls the Gerbini airfields certainly controls the eastern half, which is the vital half of Sicily, and is in a fair " way to set up an effective blockade of the. western half. The Eighth Army, slowly overcoming strong German resistance, is seven miles from the gates of Catania. The Allied line is now 10 miles longer as the result of Ameri° can capture of Agrigento (Girgente), and the American Rangers are reported to have captured a place a few miles to the south. The main forces are driving steadily inland to the heart of Sicily. Another message from North Africa says the Americans sustained a new attack on Barrafranca, 11 miles south-east of Caltanisetta. Sixteen enemy tanks were employed. The attack was repulsed. The Americans continue to advance. Thirty thousand Axis troops had been taken prisoner in Sicily by midnight, July 15, according to Press messages from Allied headquarters. Two-thirds were taken by the Ameri-. cans. The commander of the 207th Coastal Division, which was entirely destroyed, is .General Laveroute, who surrendered with his entire staff.