RIMINI CAPTURED

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 September 1944, Page 5

RIMINI CAPTURED

ALEXANDER’S STRATEGY GOTHIC LINE SLAUGHTER LONDON, September 22. The Adriatic city of Rimini has fallen to troops of the Bth Army, who have secured a bridgehead over the Marecchia River, beyond which stretch the plains leading to Bologna. On the central sector the sth Army has captured Firenzuola, about 25 miles north of Florence, and high ground beyond the town. “The Sth Army continues its hard driving advance against bitter resistance between the San Marino Republic and the Adriatic. The Germans on the Rimini ridge have had to give more ground to the Bth Army, and further inland the British have captured the capital of the Republic ot San Marino.” , The capture of Rimini is announced in to-day’s Allied communique from Italy. It adds: Eighth Army troops after nearly a month of continuous, bitter fighting, have driven the enemy from the San Fortunato Coiriano Ridge, and have established a bridgehead over the Marecchia River. The capture of Rimini is most important, as the town lies in the entrance to the Po Valley. The “Daily Telegraph’s” correspondent with the Bth Army says:“General Alexander’s masterly plan for penetrating the Gothic Line has completely succeeded, Field-Marshal Kesselring being outwitted and outmanoeuvred at every move. General Alexander early in August* decided that the only way to penetrate the Gothic Line was to. deceive Kesselring and take him by surprise. It is still too early to tell the full story ol the campaign, but when the facts are known General Alexander’s strategy and the use lie made of the limited forces at his disposal will ring as one of the war’s major Lactical successes. “We are hanging on to the mountain positions in the centre ol the Gothic Line with our finger-nails, says the Rome correspondent 01. the “Daily Express.” “Although no large break-through is yet apparent in these fastnesses we have captured pillboxes and concrete-emplaced guns en crests of such importance that we threaten the whole enemy position. “It is officialy announced that resistance in the last few days, winch was as savage as has been known m Italy, has decreased somewhat. To individual infantrymen sheltering from mortar fire in the scrape that must pass for a slit trench m this rocky terrain the battle is still as bloody as ever, and each hilltop has its corpses to prove it significantly. The Germans, who are so meticulous in covering the dead, left so many in these hills, that sometimes there were no survivors to bury the dead. Often Allied soldiers climb Gothic Line heights by pulling themselves up by the stumps of the shell-blasted lime trees, or, like mountaineers, holding each other’s rifle butts. They at times hurl hand grenades with one hand and cling to rocks with the other. The biggest heartbreak to the Allies has been that once one summit is reached another lies ahead, till one wonders if the Po Valley is only a mapmaker’s dream. Whatimay herald the end of the Gothic Line offensive is that we are beginning to take prisoners. We, in the last two days, took prisoner more than 600 from key positions north of Florence." GERMAN TROOPS CUT UP (Recd. 10 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 22. The capture of the San FortunatoCoriano Ridges completed the final stage of the month-long battle to crash through the Germans’ Apennine positions, says Reuter’s correspondent at Allied Headquarters in Italy. _ The Fifth Army which took Rimini is .gradually engulfing the broadening entrances to the Lombardy plain. • The Exchange . ' Telegraph s Agency’s correspondent in Italy says: Our bridgehead over the Marecchia River is about three miles inland from Rimini. German parachute divisions suffered heavier losses in this fighting than at Cassino. Allied troops encountered twelve German divisions of which eleven were so badly cut up that some were reduced to half their strength. There are no further natural obstacles in the path of the Eighth Army. NAVAL~ACTIVITY. . (Rec. 10.40 a.m.) LONDON, September 22. A Mediterranean naval communione says that on the right flank ol the Army on the Franco-Italian frontier the United States destroyer Ludlow, on Tuesday, bombarded enemy mortars and troop concentrations with good results. H.M.S. Kimberley and Lookout went into action on Wednesday north of Rimini, engaging coastal guns and field batteries with upwards of 1000 rounds. The target areas were well covered and one particularly active battery was effectively silenced.

SALONIKA BOMBED. RUGBY, Sept. 22. R.A.F. medium and heavy bombers last night attacked Salonika in an effort to cripple any attempts by Germans to evacuate men and supplies from the Aegean Islands, states a Rome correspondent. Various port installations were bombed and the target was left a mass of smoke and flames which could be seen 100 miles distant. Salonika is believed to be one of the chief escape bases for the Germans from the islands. CARUSO’S SENTENCE LONDON, Sept. 22. The Rome correspondent of the British United Press says Caruso’s execution has been postponed for 24 hours, following an appeal to Prince Umberto. The Italian radio announced that Caruso’s appeal against his death sentence was dismissed.