ADRIATIC BASE FALLS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21580, 6 December 1944, Page 3

ADRIATIC BASE FALLS

BRITISH TROOPS TAKE RAVENNA

BREAK-THROUGH IN RUSSI AREA

EIGHTH ARMY FANS OUT OVER LAMONE

(10.30 a.m.) LONDON, Dec. 5. British troops of the Eighth Army have captured Ravenna. The town, which has a population of about 80,000, stands on a marshy plain six miles from the Adriatic Sea and is 44 miles by rail almost east of Bologna. It was greatly prized by the Germans as the hinge of their defence system in the Adriatic sector. Earlier the Exchange and Telegraph Agency’s correspondent in Italy said the Eighth Army north-east of Faenza, after bitter fighting, advanced more than five miles. The drive followed a break-through in the Russi area. The drive continued northward and cut the main Ravenna - Bologna road and railway 11 miles north of Godo, which is on the RavennaBologna railway five miles east of Russi. The railway embankment north of Russi. was strongly defended by dug-in machine-guns, anti-tank guns and many mines. , After clearing Russi the Eighth Army troops fanned out across the Lamone River, with the enemy standing in strength behind the river. Many scattered enemy outposts were found and cleared. Other forces crossed the Montone River and joined up with the forces advancing between the Montone and Lamone Rivers. The British have now won their way to a network of good roads north-east of Russi leading west and north. The principal Fifth Army activity was in the sector adjoining the Eighth Army front, where the Indians cleared more heights.