EIGHTH ARMY

Grey River Argus, 15 December 1943, Page 5

EIGHTH ARMY

CONTINUES ADVANCE

Enemy Reinforced

[Aust. & N.Z. Press Assn.] LONDON, Dec. 13.

A press report stated: Canadian shock troops of the Eighth Army pressed back German forces 40,000 strong massed on the 15-mile Moro front and made important new gains. High ground two miles south of the port of Ortona, on the Adriatic coast, has been captured by the Canadian troops. Inland, other units have taken ground which gives them control of the lateral road from Ortona through Orsogna to Guardiagrele. Beyond this line the country is less easily defended, and the Germans are resisting fiercely the Bth. Army’s attempts to break through. The Eighth Army . holds dominating heights two miles south of Ortona, which is the coastal bulwark of the German line. The new successes have given the Eighth Army gun sites commanding German positions. There are three German divisions, including one Panzer, fighting a do-or-die action to prevent an Eighth Army breaKthrough. The battle being fought out in a three-miles-wide No-Man’s-Land north of Morp must vitally affect the fate of Pescara. The prize of this battle is the great motor road to Rome. Other Eighth Army forces farther westward are driving slowly but surely for a lateral road a few miles north of Moro. The Germans in this sector have been reinforced and are fighting fiercely to prevent the Eighth Army reaching more manoeuvrable ground north of the present positions. Reuter reports: The Eighth Army is close to the Ortona-Orsogna-Guar-digrele Road, preventing the Germans ■using .it. Reuter says: Heavy German concentrations on the narrow fronts are evidence of a determination to fight as long as possible to prevent a breakthrough to the north of Italy. Muddy roads and swollen streams are; re? striding movement on the Fifth Army front, i h «-'■ Another report stated: “The Germans on the Eighth Army front have thrown in three divisions on a 15mile defence line running from the sea through Ortona and Orsogna to the western mountain range of Maiella, which rises 8,000 feet. The two anchors of this defence line are the Adriatic on the left flank and Guaidiagrele on the right flank. The sions defending <it are the 19th. Panzer Grenadiers (pitted against tne Canadians on the coast), the 26th. Panzer Division in the centre and the 65th. Infantry Division on the nght flank. In addition to these the Germans have brought in Alpine troop units in the mountains. This is in_ deed a strong line on the front where our troops will, when they break through, find good ground for manoeuvres. We shall undoubtedly use the pick of the Eighth Army troops, including the New Zealanders and Indians, who are now in General Alexander’s army. We captured yesterday some high ground overlooking Ortona and are within two miles of this city. Further inland our advance brought our artillery close enough to the lateral road from Ortona to Orsogna to prevent the enemy holding it under our heavy shelling. Fifth Army delayed by WEATHER. [Aust. & N.Z. Press Assn.] LONDON, Dec. 13. A' correspondent at Allied Headquarters stated: Overcast weather, with the ground in very soft condition interfered with the advance of the Fifth Army in the coastal area. There the Germans are fighting desperately. Allied troops and the enemy engaged in heavy patrolling north of Filignano strong enemy patrols attempted to break through. They were repulsed. A little further south and west enemy forces observed approaching the Allied line were broken up by mortar and artillery fire. Throughout the front there were exchanges of mortar and artillery lire, i

Germans have been trying in vain to dislodge the Americans from high ground overlooking the enemy positions beyond Mignano. The Germans launched strong counter-attacks on Saturday morning, but they failed in the face of murderous fire from American artillery. The Germans made a grand-style attack in an attempt to regain high ground captured by the Fifth Army a mile west of Filignano. They shelled first with heavy gons before sending in their infantry, rhe Americans rose to the occasion and kept their hold'on the height. The Paris radio said the Fifth Army put down an artillery barrage unprecedented in violence southwest of • Venafro. Thirty thousand shells were fired in 24 hours on a single sector, with the object of softening the German positions. Allied aircraft are giving the land troops every possible support whenever the weather permits, in spite ot increased fighter opposition. Fighterbombers and fighters are active ahead of the Fifth Army. Railway targets near Archi on the road to Rome were attacked three times during the day bv Invaders. Hits were scored on the tracks of railway yards. Other Invaders bombed and strafed the railway junction of Ponte Gallera, south-east of Rome. Hangars were strafed and a landing ground and radio station in the neighbourhood was attacked. Spitfires patrolled the Eighth Army front and attacked transport in the Chieti area. . A correspondent says: ‘The Germans realise that the most critical stage in the assault on their Winter line has been reached. They are putting everything into the fight, while our men are bent on holding the enemy counter-attacks and building up their strength for further offensives. One sure sign of the importance tne enemy attaches to the battle is the way he has stepped up his air attacks on both sides of the mountains. A correspondent at Allied Headquarters in North Africa, says that since the invasion of Italy the Fifth and Eighth Armies have taken in an 6,000 German prisoners. GERMAN PRESS GANGS. [Aust. & N.Z. Press Assn.] (Rec. 9.50) LONDON, Dec. 14. Algiers radio. reported: The Germans are taking desperate measuies to obtain Italian manpower. German squads in places such as Milan frequently) cordon off streets, ana seize all able-bodied men and deport them.

LEAFLETS FOR AUSTRIANS.

FIRED INTO GERMAN LINES.

(Rec. 9.5) LONDON, Dec. 14. A “Daily Express” correspondent with the Fifth Army says: Allied guns are firing propaganda leaflets into enemy territory. Hundreds o± thousands of these leaflets' land in German lines in shell-like canisters, which, on exploding, release. paper instead of T.N.T. The leaflets tell Austrians of the Moscow Conference decision to restore Austrian indeI

pendence. Austrian prisoners on the central sector of the Fifth Army front have been more numerous in the last fortnight. ITALIAN WORKERS CO-OP. SYSTEM ABOLISHED RUGBY, Dec. 13. Following abolition of the Fascist co-operative syndicate system which has prevailed since 1926, a delegation representing workers of Naples and district, according to a war correspondent with th e Fifth Army today handed Colonel Hine, Regional Civil Affairs Officer for the Allied Military Government of Naples Province, a message addressed to the workers of America, Britain and Russia proclaiming th e opening of a new era. The message went on: ‘‘lt is our high hope to collaborate with you and produce, side by side with you, those arms which will hasten the moment in which the enemy and barbarism shall be totally destroyed.” Russian Officers VISIT TO N.Z. FORCES. '(NZ.E.F. War Correspondent) EIGHTH ARMY FRON, Dec. -J. New Zealanders fighting in Italy, received their first spoken tribute from the Russian Army to-day when five senior' Russjan officers visited our sector on the Eighth Army front. Among olive groves on hill slopes the Russian officers met General Freyberg and a group of senior New Zealand officers. General Freyberg greeted them warmly. “I am proud to shake the hand of a Russian General,” he said. MajorGeneral Vasiliev, Russian infantry commander, senior officer of the group, replied: “We are glad to be with the New Zealanders. Your deeds are widely, known in our country.” The party also included Major-General Solodovink, who was with the Eighth Army in Libya and Tunisia as a correspondent for the Tass Russian News Agency. General Freyberg explained to them the New Zealanders’ part in the offensive across the Sangro ißiver. One New Zealand intelligence officer, who was formerly an Auckland Rhodes Scholar speaking Russian, outlined the present position. The Russians obviously were amazed to find a New Zealander who could speak and joke with them in their own language. Everywhere they went through our gun-lines and in jeeps along the roads, the Russians, in their distinctive blue uniforms and black polished kneeboots, attracted attention. Groups of New Zealanders who recognised them cheered and waved as they drove by. The Russians climbed to a high vantage point to watch heavy concentrations of shells crashing down on German gun positions in .hills above the front line.