ON WHOLE FRONT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21149, 17 July 1943, Page 3

ON WHOLE FRONT

ALLIED ADVANCE DRIVE TOCATANIA RESISTANCE STIFFENS (11.3 oa.m.) LONDON, July 10. Apparently the main in Sicily is being offered by the Germans between Augusta and Catania, but Allied gains are recorded along the whole front. At Vizzini, the British are at the railway running from Enna through Caltangirone to the Gulf of Catania. Equally important is the American capture ol: Ganicatti, which cuts the railway from Caltanisetta to Agrigento.

So far the Axis resistance has not taken the form of a counter-offensive, but only counter-attacks. The enemy have been so hustled by the speed of the Allied advance that it is thought to be doubtful now whether they will be able to mount counter-attacks. Their plans maj' be to try and block the avenues of advance to which the difficulties of the country to a large extent compel the invaders to coniine themselves. Besides the German l.roops defending the plain of Catania, there will be a very large amount oi “flak” and artillery hitherto defending the Gerbini airfields which can equally be used against tanks. The Allied troops have made excellent progress considering that they have hitherto proceeded on foot carrying much equipment. In the disembarkation for the invasion, motor transport had low priority. The country is very hot with little water and the going mostly uphill. The Allied air strength over the island is steadily getting much stronger. It took only 48 hours for British engineers and sappers to get one airfield going. The enemy air effort continues to decline day by day. The Catania aerodrome had almost ceased work by yesterday and the enemy was able to use only one or two satellite airfields at Gerbini nearby.. ' Enemy Fights Fiercely ’ The enemy is fighting fiercely to hold up the Eighth Army’s advance on Catania, states a press correspondent with the 15th Army Group command. "Throughout yesterday,” he reported, “the enemy, a majority of whom were German, put up a stiff resistance in an endeavour to prevent our troops getting through on the Catania plain and there was exceptionally heavy fighting on the road leading northwards from Augusta before our armoured units succeeded in breaking through. Later, motorised infantry followed through. Our troops had to battle a way through stiff defensive positions. “There was also very heavy fighting throughout yesterday at Vizzini and Licodia, about 40 miles north-wes-t of Syracuse. Our troops occupied a village early in the morning, driving the enemy out. Before our troops could get firmly established, the enemy launched heavy counterattacks which forced our troops to leave the village. A ding-dong struggle for the possession of the town then developed and it changed hands several times during the day before our troops gained a firm hold late in the afternoon. They now hold it firmly. “The American troops also made further advances and continue to deepen the bridgehead, although they are having to move through difficult hilly country. One party of Italians which surrendered complained that they were placed in front of minefields while the Germans, who were behind, refused to show them a safe path through. Only nine enemy aircraft were seen on the whole front yesterday. Of that number four were shot down.” Threat to Catania

The Axis Command is reported to be throwing in only German units in Sicily to stiffen the l-esistance to the Allied threat to the Catanian plain. An Algici's radio report that the Allies were storming the city of Catania was premature and the fate of Lcntini and Carlentini, whose capture was reported earlier, is still doubtful. Reuter’s correspondent at Allied headquarters says that Eighth Army spearheads advancing on Lentini encountered outposts of a powerful German force apparently drawn up across the Lentini bottle-neck guarding the entrance to the Catanian , plain. The bottle-neck northwards 'of Lentini is a four-mile wide strip of land between Lentini and the Lake Carlentini marshes which run to the sea. The major highway to Catania strikes across the centre of this neck. The Germans are deploying in the vicinity of the bottle-neck in everincreasing strength, hoping to check the Eighth Army’s advance and re move the threat to the Catanian plain, with its chain of air-bases as well as Catania city. The Allies, after beating back an Axis counter-attack against Augusta, advanced at least six miles north and captured the little coastal town of Bracoli.