The Evening Star THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1943. ONWARD TO ROME.

Evening Star, Issue 25037, 2 December 1943, Page 4

The Evening Star THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1943. ONWARD TO ROME.

Sir Bernard Montgomery's unrivalled generalship has again proved itself, and less than four days after he promised the enemy " a colossal crack " when' giving his order, " Onward to Rome," the German winter line in Italy has heen Shattered. It is within brief memory that the Germans were boasting they were holding the Eighth Army—" the enemy is still crawling far south of Rome," gibed Hitler in his Beer Cellar speech early last month—and they had expectations of holding a strong line along the Sangro throughout the winter. Now the line has gone, and the Eighth Army is, latitudinally, actually north of the Italian capital. The breakthrough has changed the entire situation in Italy, and the hopes earlier expressed—with the soft pedal clamped down—that Rome might be a Christmas gift for the United Nations, have now every prospect of realisation. The general situation is, of course, governed by the Apennine Mountains, but the Eighth Army has outflanked the German positions confronting the Fifth Army, and the enemy on this front now faces a situation which can spell disaster to him if a withdrawal is not speedily made. A month ago the military correspondent of the ' Daily Express,' writing on the battle of tie Garigliano-Trigno River crossings, said that the advance on Rome had been speeded up, and in the fight for Rome it might be possible to defeat Rommel's forces-so decisively as to make the way to the River Po easy. Whether this Eighth Army victory constitutes that decisive defeat, enforcing on the enemy a long withdrawal such as followed at El Alamein, remains to be seen, but from information to hand the prospects are bright. Already General Montgomery is once again employing his famous _ " left hook," and his forces are swinging left on the trans-Apennine highway in the direction of Rome. The indications are that the,Germans have no defence in strength along . this highway, and the folding up of the entire Southern Italian front would seem the next and only possible outcome. In thirteen months the Allied' land forces, hacked by tactical air forces, have advanced approximately 2,000 miles nearer Berlin. This has Ibeen accomplished in stages, the first being the advance from El Alamein to Tripoli, 1,400 miles, in three months. The second was the clearing of North Africa of the Germans, which took six months, the battle for Tunisia costing the Germans 261,600 casualties. The occupation of Sicily followed, this campaign taking thirty-eight days. September 3 saw the invasion of Italy, and the advance along the Mandragone River to the Sangro began. At the Sangro the Eighth Army is barely more than 700 miles from Berlin. Since El Alamein the record of the Eighth Army is little short of amazing. General Montgomery took his time preparing his dispositions at key points, but in every instance his attack carried the enemy defences. Although the Italian terrain is different from the desert and enemy supply problems are simple in comparison, the latest successful onslaught is almost certain to be the beginning of a full-scale enemy withdrawal. General Montgomery, as he has always done, struck at the moment least suspected by the enemy, and surprise, together with the unsurpassed fighting capabilities of his men and the superiority of equipment, both in quality and quantity, have combined to Ibring the day of final defeat of the German armies appreciably nearer. To quote General Montgomery, the battle of the Sangro has been a good l show." -