LINE GONE

Grey River Argus, 2 December 1943, Page 5

LINE GONE

IN EASTERN ITALY EIGHTH ARMY CAPTURES All Along the Front [Aust. & N.Z. Press Assn.] LONDON, Nov. 30. The Bth Army’s offensive in Italy from the Sangro bridgeheads is going well. The troops are now within the main German Winter defence line and the advance continues. They captured a village on a ridge three miles north of the Sangro, and are moving to secure the whole ridge. They now threaten Lanciano in tne centre of the German defences. The attack on the .German left flank is now in its third day. There has been no further official news since yesterday. Correspondents at the front say that the attack is still going well. The Bth Army was last reported to be hammering at an enemy strongpoint on high ground about one mile and a half inland, and at enemy positions round Castelfrentano, which is foui’ miles inland. The latest news from Allied headquarters emphasises that both near the coast and at the second bridgehead across the Sangro, 14 miles inland, the enemy’s resistance is fierce, resourceful, and efficient. The Bth Army has firmly established a second bridgehead across the Sangro at Archi (14 miles inland). The attack, in which the New Zealanders are participating, was launched before dawn on Sunday from the bridgehead on the north bank of the Sangro against the German 65th Infantry Division, holding the enemy’s left flank. This flank is anchored one mile and a-half inland from the Adriatic and near Castelfrentano. An Allied communique stated: After 36 hours’ 'heavy and z continuous fighting, the eighth Army have broken into the main defences of the enemy Winter line on high ground north-west of the Sangro River. The bridgehead has been enlarged to a depth of four miles and’ a width of twelve miles. The advance is continuing. Reuter says: The Eighth Army is grossing the Sanvro along the entire length of the coastal bridgehead. Despite a broad extension of the coastal bridgehead no link-up has yet been effected with the bridgehead stabilised near Archi. A gap of two miles still separates the two Eighth Army forces. The Eighth Army turned loose all its artillery against the German hill positions across the Sangro to open its attack. Hundreds of guns for nine hours pounded enemy frontline trenches, dugouts, and gun positions. As the infantry advanced yard bv yard up the olive and poplar-cov-ered slopes towards the villages of Mozzagrona and Santa Maria the Germans, in a surprise move, sent in flame-throwing; tanks, the first the Bth Army has seen. A furious action developed on the slopes of the enemyheld ridge, with the flame-throwers sweeping the village streets with a wall of fire. They made no progress, and the counter-attack against the advancing British and Dominion troops petered out. The flame-throw-ing tanks later retreated as the Allied artillery got the measuse of the tanks’ positions and made it impossible for renewed German counterattacks to last more than a few minutes Fifty thousand shells must 'have landed on the German positions between breakfast and tea time. This is the first time New Zealanders have been officiallv mentioned as being in this theatre of war. The enemy threw in tanks and flame-throwers in waves in desperate efforts to hold his line, but the New Zealanders steadily hacked their wav forward. The New Zealanders gained a mile soon alter the attack started. The Germans are fighting fiercely and contesting the ground inch bv inch. All day ong they have been bombed and shelled. General Montgomery has paid a tr ibute to the air support accorded his troops. The Luftwaffe has been putting up more aircraft than since the Volturno battle. Sangro Valley Ridge CAPTURED BY TUESDAY. FOUR VILLAGES' TAKEN. (Rec. 7.45) LONDON, Nov. 30. The Eighth Army nas broken deep into the enemy’s main winter line, according to a special Allied communique, which states: The whole of the high ridge overlooking tne Sangro Valley is now m our hands. Our two bridgeheads have now been joined up, forming one large penetration of enemy defensive positions. Our troops have broken deep mto the mam enemy winter line.” The communique states: J-! 16 enemy made counter attacks on Tuesday afternoon. These were beaten off?’ • IThe communique records the capture of the following villages:— (Mozzargrogna 1 ; Santa Maria (which is half a mile east of Mozzargrogna); also Romagnoli (which is a little over a mile south-west of Mozzargrogna) and is on the western end of a five mile ridge protecting the German supply line; also of Fossacesia, on the coast. All these villages are on a road inland from the Adriatic through the communication centre of Lanciano. The capture of Mozzargrogna ana the other penetrations put British, New Zealand, Canadian and Indian Troops well on the way to the crest of a craggy five mile ridge which is a natural barrier, protecting the sole supply route for the Germans Adriatic flank. , x . Throughout Tuesday s actions there was an impressive demonstration ot Allied air superiority. Spitfires bore down against the enemy Portions, sprayjng them with bullets, and then wheeling off. Allied bombers als hammered against the enemy. German snipers continued fighting when the main resistance was en. Even wounded German soldiers were given grenades, which roey flung from houses, where nests or the Nazi forces held out. Gurkhas cleaned up the snipers with kukris. One observer says: The road t 0 Mozzargrogna was a way of death, on which there lav German dead along with some of our own casualties, wno fell in battle. . WINTER LINE GONE. (Rec 12.40.) LONDON, Dec 1. Reuter’s correspondent at Aiiiea headauarters says: The German Winter line in Italy has been shattered. Simultaneously with the capture m the villages of Fossacesia, Santamaria, Mozzagrona and Romagnoli. General Montgomery’s forces rolled uo both extremities and the centre of the German defences. Another account stated: The Eighth Army, in ten hours’ stiff fishti g, tore a erap in the German Sang o line, which means the line }s lost as a defence barrier. It.,.was in sense a smashing attack supported by more guns than the Germans were able to mass for a single battle, even

at the height of their triumphs. Over one hundred thousand shells blasted German positions between midnight Sunday and dusk on Monday. The attack opened in the first light, British assault infantry moving forward up slopes, and in less than an hour they charged headlong straight at German defences. A mighty barrage from hundreds of guns continuously pounded the defences. The Eighth Armv has captured Mazzogrogna village, three miles north of the Sangro, and four miles from the Adriatic on the road to Lanciano, which is onl v three miles ahead. Other correspondents say there was bloody street fighting at Mazzogrogua, in which German flamethrowers spat sixty-foot jets against the British, but the defences were overcome by brilliantly conceived and skilfully executed tactics. A British United correspondent on the Sangro bridgehead says: The artillery barrage and Ghurka knives won the day. The artillery bombardments were so heavy that many German prisoners admitted they were glad to get out. Many were shellsick and bomb-dizzy. There were Germans' who cried for mercy when Ghurkas charged with kukris. Mazzogrogna was turned slowly into a smouldering pyre, under shelling and bombing. Another correspondent stated: — Smashing forward from its bridgehead at dawn on Monday, the Bth Army had six hours later driven a wedge into the German Winter line. The Germans fought fiercely to defend it, but the British forces pressed resolutely up the rising ground, getting astride the road which runs along the top behind the German positions. The Germans already 'had had an ample taste in a few days of the weight which the British artillery and bombers could put down on them, but it was. onlv a sample compared with the weight of high explosives rained on them on that day. Eventually the British forces succeeded in cutting the roads to Lanciano, although the Germans launched tanks against them, which resulted in heavv fighting. A correspondent writes: ‘Gen. Montgomery’s battle-toughened troops have done it again. British, Indian and New Zealand troops, who pushed back the Germans and Italians so many times in the desert, have once more broken into main defences of the Germans north of the _ Sangro River. General von Kesselring expected a standstill during the Winter months, but General Montgomery took the opposite view. He issued his famous order of the day: “Onward to Rome.” To-dav the bridgehead on the enemy side of tne river runs twelve miles inland. While It is not vet linking with, the second bridgehead at Archi, we are crossing the river as well. We are fighting for a high ridge rising 750 to 1000 feet, running north-west of Mozzogrogna, and south-west of Fossacesia with San Maria in the middle. We captured a number of prisoners.

Moving the N.Z.E.F. EXTENSIVE BATTLE TRAINING. (N.Z.E.F. Official Correspondent) CAIRO, Dec. 1. It is now possible to tell some of the stored of how the New Zealanders prepared to play their part in the liberation of the 'Continent and the final victory over Germany. Long before they knew that they woula join the Allied armies in the campaign for Italy, the New Zealanders were preparing to change their veteran mobile desert division in to an even more powerful striking force for close hill country fighting and the battle training was the longest and hardest the New Zealand troops in the Middle East have ever experiencea. While the Eighth Army was invading Sicily the New Zealanders were making long forced marches, training in tanks, on guns, and transport through the hot Egyptian summer. , It was more than training, for into the New Zealanders’ mobile infantry and artillery had to be fitted a new armoured formation which trained twelve months to go into action as the first New Zealanders in their own heavy tanks. The training was completed vMh the ; biggest battle manoeuvres since the rehearsal tor the attack on the El Alamein line. Out on a broken stretch of desert country, the New Zealanders in giant Sherman tanks had their first trials of co-operative fighting with guns and infantry. For the final battle exercise they marched at least ninety, miles over one of the barrenest stretches of western Egypt. They endeavoured to create conditions akin to those they will find in Europe. The v moved guns and trucks along narrow lanes. The engineers tried lifting booby traps among the hign c&"n in swamps on the edge of tne Nile. Gunners prepared barrages to blast more German guns and mortars from the same type or hill positions they) found the enemy holding in Meanwhile the Division's administrative section undertook the enormous task of moving the entire fighting force and all its services to HUiope. While any reference to the size and numbers of the New Zealand force in Italy is forbidden, it is impossible to nive any idea of the magnitude of this administrative job but perhaps a fair comparison would be the smft ine of the entire population of one of g New Zealand’s larger provincial towns, with all its transport, medical mid dental and food services, plus enormous quantities of war matenas. Within a few weeks the ' zhol £ JJI r-rne-ements were completed. Eveiy onp was equipped with both summer and winter q clo P thing, inoculations were ffiven against typhoid and fiyphus, and to counter the effects of malaria mosquito bites each man, beio eral rpached Italy, had taken several menacrine tabiets. These and countlesP other details were completed so and quickly that to most of the troops their transfer, which for '.some was to the eighth Mediterranean country they have visited, was just another “break.” THE VOYAGE TO ITALY The New Zealanders did not travel as for an invasion, but in several convoys within each of which the units dispersed to avoid losses The main body left Alex andria, and as the black-out. was not enforced until late many did not realise that they were tinder way until they woke in the morning to see the coastline fading. The weather throughout the voyage remained perfect, with clear skies ana little motion of the ships. The usual physical training was carried out along with a variety of games. The afternoons were spent in housey and “quiz” and the evenings m community singing, and many concerts were held, the Maoris being in particularly strong demand. Apart from physical training and boat drill tne troops were left to their own devices. Escorting fighters passed hourly. One morning the men awoke to find a mountainous - land on the port, where buildings were plainly seen, white walled cottages with red roofs clustered about church spires and ancient castles, while far back in the i hills isolated villages could be described as clinging to jagged rock I pinnacles. This was Sicily. White sails gleamed towards the shore and