The Grey River Argus MONDAY, MAY 15, 1944. FRESH PUSH IN ITALY.

Grey River Argus, 15 May 1944, Page 4

The Grey River Argus MONDAY, MAY 15, 1944. FRESH PUSH IN ITALY.

The vaccum in Allied reports recently from Italy, and the enemy’s prediction of an Allied offensive. were explained by the hews released on Saturday that an offensive had in fa«t been launched late on Thursday night by General Alexander in the direction of the road to Rome on western part of the front. The immediate objective was to reach and penetrate the enemy’s first great defensive barrier, ithe Gustav Line in the valley of Liri, east of the Garigliano, and north west of Cassino, while another tributary is the Rapido River, which enters the Garigliano just west of Cassino. The latest news is that the Eighth Army, which recently had been transferred inland from the Adriatic sector, making the passages over the Appennines without enemy opposition, has established a bridgehead on the north bank of the Rapido, extending about a mile beyond. Other Eighth Army forces have advanced east of Cassino (which itself is not a scene of battle) and are endeavouring to surround the town. The Eighth Army isoperating nearer the coast, in the vicinity of Minturno, and the Americans have made progress, though not continuously, while French forces have taken an ini* portant height and other places west of the Rapido, and are protecting the left flank of tho Eighth Army successfully. Tlioj Germans say they have evacuatedi Castel Forte, on the west of the Garigliano, which would indicate Allied progress on the left flank. The fact that, after the Cassino lull, the renewal of attack should have been made in that quarter by the Allies goes to show that the earlier operations were not by any means a waste of effort, eventhough followed by the lull. The next development may occur at the Anzio beach-head, to which reinforcements arc reported to be going, whilst the enemy may have good reason also for his expecta* tion that Allied troops soon may be landed on the western Italian coa'st a[t places well north of Anzio. So much is suggested by the reports of heavy Allied . air raids along the coast in that direction. Prepared as they are for resistance probably greater .than any yet met in Italy, the Allies will doubtless regard present progress as satisfactory, especially as the enemy is expected to be soon rather short in supplies, since his rail, road and sea communications are either disrupted or extremely hazardous throughout Northern Italy. There is a second enemy line in the Liri Valley to be negotiated when the Gustav Line is passed, and this bottleneck in the approach to Rome is bound to be meantime a tough problem. Presumably earlier ideas of pinching the Germans by way of additional landings have not been abandoned, and should they take shape, the enemy forces south of Rome would be further menaced. The Anzio forces of the Allies are soon bound to take a bigger hand. Commentators say that, whatever the immediate results, the enemy will have tied up in Italy well over a quarter of a million men, so that the second front in Western Europe will to that extent be advantaged. General Alexander has previously pointed out that operations in Italy are only one item in the Allied offensive land strategy, and it is not unreasonable to regard the new offensive there as the forerunner of a greater one in the west.