GAINS IN ITALY

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 September 1944, Page 5

GAINS IN ITALY

TWO TOWNS CLEARED RIMINI-BATTLE LONDON, September 11. The Italian cities of Pistoja and Prato, north-west of Florence, have been cleared of the enemy by troops of the sth Army, and on the western sector the Germans have been driven back to their Gothic Line defences. On the Adriatic coast, the battle of the ridges between the Gothic Line and Rimini continues. The Germans are fighting fiercely and have made a number of counter-attacks, which our troops repelled. Losses on both sides have been heavy. ADVANCE DEVELOPING (Rec. 10 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 11. The Allied advance in the Florence sector is progressing on a wide front and our gains in this area have given us control of important features m the mountainous area where the Fifth Army troops are now coming to grips with the enemy in the Gothic Line defences. Reuter’s correspondent at Allied Headquarters in Italy says: Fifth Army troops have driven the Germans back into their Gothic Line fortifications west and north of Florence. They have also pushed beyond Lucca and are advancing north as the Germans continue to fall back along the coast towards the western anchor positions of the Gothic Line. On Ihe Adriatic sector, the battle of ridges below Rimini continues with full ferocity. Casualties were heavy on both sides. INDIAN CAPTURES. LONDON, Sept. 10. Heavy rain and mud continue to hamper Sth Army operations on the Adriatic sector, says the Exchange Telegraph’s Rome correspondent. Stiff fighting is still going on, with frequent enemy counter-attacks and shelling. A strong German counterattack launched in the Groce sector yesterday morning is still going oh. To-day’s Allied communique states that heavy fighting continues in the Adriatic sector. The Bth Army again progressed in high ground, where they captured the village of Germane, which was the scene of heavy fighting last week. Eighth Army Indians in high ground between the Upper Arno and Tiber Valleys, captured several important features. Big advances were made north of Florence and the important features Monte Giovo, Monte Caroso and Monte Calvana occupied. The British in this sector, for the first time, overlook the Upper Sieve Valley, west of Florence. American patrols were active north of Florence on the Ptayo-Pisa arterial road which is now entirely in our hands. HILLSIDE VILLAGES. LONDON, Sept. 10. Some of the fiercest fighting in Europe is raging for the Cariano and San Savino Ridges, reports Reuter’s correspondent at Allied Headquarters in Italy. The fighting has risen to a tremendous crescendo because these two ridges are the last that remain before our armour will be able to fan out in the Po Valley, which was the object of the great Adriatic offensive. The “Daily Express” correspondent says that for a week we have been battling for one and then another of the four hillside villages on the Cariano Ridge, all of which have been turned into citadels and each protecting the other in a series of steps. There has been and still is bloody fighting, raging on these slopes. Allied troops, under lashing rain, since yesterday morning, successfully resisted a new series of incessant counter-attacks. We already hold half of the first ridge.

RISINGS IN THE NORTH.

WIDE AREA SEIZED.

LONDON, September 11. A general uprising of organised Italian partisans and civilians has broken out in Northern Italy. Bologna is under martial law and German base troops are patrolling the streets day and night. Street fighting between Italian civilians, munition workers, and Germans is reported in Genoa, Spezia, and Trieste. The uprisings were ordered by the Italian Prime Minister (Signor Bonomi) last Wednesday. They followed the breaching of the Gothic Line by the Bth Army and the invasion of Northern Italy by the Unitpd States 7th Army from Southern France. Heavily-armed partisans are attacking German troops squeezed between the alpine frontiers and France, Switzerland and Austria. Reports reaching General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson’s Headquarters say the partisans' have seized wide areas between Lake Maggiore and Domodossola', a town on the Italian-Swiss border. Partisans are reported to have encircled and destroyed a large German garrison in this area. The correspondent oi the Daily Mail” at Allied Headquarters says: “Italian saboteurs and guerrilla bands have begun a new wave of action against German transport, communications ,and depots. Several truckloads of Germans were killed in bitter fighting yesterday after a road column of 30 vehicles was ambushed near Spezia. Traffic along the Spezia-Genoa railway is blocked by a derailed train. Patriots are also taking revenge for the years of oppression and terrorism. Carlo Biaggini, Federal Inspector of the 7th Republican Fascist Region, has been executed after a trial by a Partisan court. They captured him after he had given orders for ' four patriothostages to be shot. The extent ol the patriot activities is l emphasised by an official admission from Milan that 1495 Fascists have been killed and 2171 wounded in the last eight months in political attacks and armed fighting with Partisans.”

MUSSOLINI ATTEMPTS SUICIDE

(Rec. noon) LONDON, Sept. IL Musolini tried to commit suicide by opening the veins in his wrist with a razor when he heard the Allies demanded his delivery as part of the armistice agreement with Badoglio, before Hitler’s parachutists rescued him, according to the newspaper “Risorgimento Liberate,” quoted by the “.Daily Telegraph’s” Rome correspondent. Il Duce abandoned his attempts and asked his guards for a revolver, which was refused him. ITALIAN LINER ABLAZE. LONDON, September 9. “The Italian luxury liner Rex, holder of the Atlantic blue riband and one time pride of the Italian merchant fleet, lies burning off Trieste with a 60-degree list to port after a blistering attack yesterday by Royal Air Force rocket-firing Beaufighters,” reports the Rome correspondent of. the Associated Press. “More than 123 rockets hits the liner, some below the waterline. Royal Air Force reconnaissance units two days ago saw the Rex being towed south of Trieste. It is believed the Germans intended to use her as a blockship for Trieste harbour.” CONVOY BOMBED IN AEGEAN RUGBY, September 10. “Beaufighters operating from eastern Mediterranean bases discovered

and attacked an enemy convoy m the central Aegean Sea,” says a Middle East air communique. “A coaster ’and an escort vessel were hit, the latter being left burning. In a later attack a motor-launch was hit with rockets and ran aground out of control. An escorting Arado 196 was shot down. Constant attacks on enemy shipping and harbour installations in the Aegean and off the coast of Greece have been maintained in the last week.” GERMANS WITHDRAWING. LONDON, Sept. 11. The Turkish radio stated that the Germans, yesterday, evacuated Chios, and are also leaving Lesbos and Lemnos, in the Aegean Sea, between, Turkey and Greece.