COASTAL ADVANCES

Evening Star, Issue 25226, 13 July 1944, Page 5

COASTAL ADVANCES

LEGHORN AND ANGONA PORTS NEARER

SLOW PROGRESS INLAND

(Rec. noon.) LONDON, July 12. The Fifth Army, overcoming increasingly strong resistance, has pushed two miles nearer Leghorn with the capture of Castiglioncello on the coast, and the Allied guns on the Adriatic coast are now in range of Ancona Harbour, where

vital targets are under shelltire,

says Reuter's correspondent at Allied headquarters in Italy.

The gains have been less pronounced inland, very bitter opposition being encountered along the entire front. The Germans are playing for more time to strengthen the Gothic Line. They are launching counter-attacks frequently, 'but the general position is unchanged. The French on the Fifth Army's right flank are holding firm, despite efforts to disrupt their attack against Poggibonsi. The Indians captured two dominating heights below the lateral highway from Arezzo to Urbino. One height of 3,500 ft is expected to enable the softening of German resistance around Arezzo.

Algiers radio stated that Allied tanks north-west of Umlbertid crossed the Nestore River.

The Exchange Telegraph's correspondent reports that Eighth Army antidemolition patrols are successfully forestalling enemy attempts to destroy 'bridges. A British patrol in one area encountered a demolition gang comprising 20 drunken Germans, 15 of whom, including the officer in charge, were killed.

Polish troops fighting on the Adriatic coast have taken prisoner 1,700, killed 1,300, and wounded 3,900 since the beginning of the recent advance.