DEFENCE OF ROME

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21317, 1 February 1944, Page 3

DEFENCE OF ROME

NAZIS DETERMINED

STEADY ALLIED GAINS AIR MASTERY ASSURED . LONDON, Jan. 30. The Allies’ advance inland from Nettuno continues steadily against increasing opposition which is designed to restrict them to the beach-head area as much as possible while the Germans build up strength for a counter-attack, says The Times’ correspondent in Algiers. The British and American troops have captured several villages seven miles inland, including Carrocetto, known as Aprilia, until Mussolini changed its name. The principal fighting during the week-end resulted from a small counter-attack launched from Cisterna. In this action the enemy used tanks and self-propelled guns. The landing of reinforcements is proceeding satisfactorily despite air attacks, but it must not be presumed that landing operations of this magnitude have been achieved without loss. The French and British each took 100 Germans prisoner in the recent fight-

ing. The German News Agency stated that Allied warships shelled a coastal village 10 miles from Rome and other towns north of the Pontine coast. The Combined British Press correspondent with the Fifth Army, says that after a week’s fighting in which they have occupied the whole of the low-lying coastal plain, the British and Americans from the Anzio beachhead are now thrusting towards the slopes of the Alban hills and Lepini heights. The foothills are hidden under the dust of battle as artillery engages artillery and relays of our fighters sweep along the enemy positions on both sides of the Appian highway to Rome.

Alive With Allied Fighters

The sky all day has been alive with the hum of our fighters. The Allied air force seems to have gained the upper hand of the Luftwaffe which is not ready again to try conclusions after its thorough beating during the past few days. The over-all picture of the last 24 hours is one of little change. The British and Americans have completed the first stage of consolidation and are now engaged in the process of denying the enemy the advantages of observation positions in the foothills.

As the Allied inroad into the German flank increases, the enemy shows signs that he has decided to hold us off from Rome at all costs, whatever his commitments at Cassino. The Eighth Army checked an enemy attempt at infiltration in the Orsogna area. The Germans north-west of Orsogna are still constructing defence to hold on to the sector.