IN THE MOUNTAINS

Evening Star, Issue 25005, 26 October 1943, Page 3

IN THE MOUNTAINS

BITTER STRUGGLE FOR HEIGHTS GERMANS PREPARING TO WITHDRAW FROM CAPUA PLAIN (Kec. 12.45 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 25. Bitter struggles for the heights beyond Sparanise will decide the fate of the German troops in the coastal pocket and force their withdrawal from the Capua plain, for which the enemy is preparing by mining bridges, culverts, and drainage ditches, burying mines in fields, and turning cottages into defence posts. Renter's correspondent reports that General Clark's right wing is at present striking beyond Alife _ towards Venafro, an Apeunine town in which the German western defence line is huttressed. The Germans are two miles ahead. The Fifth Army forces in this middle Volturno area are established in mountains 2,000 feet high. The battle sways on the lower slopes among scattered copses, mule tracks, and twisting footpaths. _ Before the Allies lies a sheer precipice—the steepest mountain face the Fifth Army has yet encountered. •

(Referring to the Eighth Army's surcess in establishing a bridgehead on tbf» north bank of the Trigno River, Reuter's correspondent stresses that the whole of the Eighth Army is not yet on the move. General Montgomery is concentrating on the establishment of a really adequate bridgehead before striking at the next obstacle.