BY THE GERMANS

Grey River Argus, 19 May 1944, Page 5

BY THE GERMANS

FULL EVACUATION Enemy Announcement POLES AND BRITISH ,CONVERGING. IN BLOODIEST BATTLE. (Aus. & N.Z- Press Assn.] (Rec. 5.5.) LONDON, May 18.

The Poles, north of Cassino. are fighting fiercely over rugged peaks, states the “Telegraph’s” correspondent in Cassino. The front key position is the Albaneta Massif which, it captured, would dominate the Monte Cassino Monastery, causing its fall. The Poles, crouching and crawling up the mountain sides, have returned again and again to the onslaught, under a deadly fire from German morA “Daily Express” correspondent says: “The fighting in the Polish sector is desperate. Furious attackers and fanatical defenders are locked together on the hills. The racket of the firing is continuous. It is a ghastly battle. Soldiers, who were wounded early last night, were laid by the roadside in the hope that stretcher bearers could collect them. Many of these wounded have been moved by mules, over bumping trails. “There is a fortified enemy house on Albaneta Peak, which is spray.ng fire against wave after wave of the attackers. That house must be destroyed. It is being done —but with

blood as well as steel.” .. . A correspondent with, the Polish troops near Phantom Ridge says: Polish troops in an attack against German strong points around Monastery Hill and Cassino area to-day, were driven down from hills to the vital Highway Six. ~ , ~ The Poles and British link togethei on Highway Six. Hitler’s famed First Parachute Division will be trapped in Monastery Fortress and Cassino town. They will face complete annihilation. British troops of a famous division, penetrating deep into enemy lines with tanks and infantry have captured a point from which thev menace the road, which now is under terrific British mortar and machinegun fire. With the Poles driving m from the east towards Highway Six and the British smashing a way through from west of Cassino, the town is threatened with complete encirclement. . . Cassino and dominating hills behind the town are still firmly in German hands say other reports. General AJexandei’ on Wedneseday launched a new attack against Cassino where the garrison is estimated at five thousand, states a Reuter correspondent. An artillery barrage, comparable in the number of guns to the cannonade which opened the general offensive last week, preceded an attack bv Polish troops on heights behind the town giving access to Monastery Hill. Artillery simultaneously shelled Highway Six. Tuesday’s developments appear to have increased the possibility of the Eighth Armv cutting Highway Six leadinv to Rome, which is the only exit from Cassino for the Germans. Highway Six is now under fire from >the Allied small guns, mortars and machine-guns—making the position of the Cassino defenders extremely difficult. The enemv pushed scratch troops from the reserve and train.ng areas into the battle between Pignataro and Cassino, where the British have advanced in face of savage coun-ter-attacks. Some prisoners taken m this sector have been identified as the 90th. Grenadiers, which is the famous 90th. Light Regiment, reformed after the desert debacle.

KESSELRING DIRECTS EVACUATION'-

(Rec. 11.53.) LONDON, May 18. Before the announcement of the evacuation of Cassino, the German, News Agency stated Marshal Kessei- ' r'n°- had been recently on the Cassino I front, where he was taking charge of operations. FURTHER FRENCH ADVANCE LONDON, -May 17. Albed headquarters on Wednesday reported that French troops advanced another two miles against strong French gained another 4000 vards in their advance from San Giorgio in the southern part of the Lirl Valley against fierce German opposition. Other French forces driving west from the Ausonia gion have broken through more mountain defences and occupied high ground two and a half miles south of Esperia. . ) German resistance in the Lin V.ai>ey was less fierce on Wednesday. Some of the enemy abandoned equipment, including anti-tank guns, in face of the continued Allied adCorrespondents say that the great military achievement of the Fifth Army”—the expulsion of the Germans from the Gustav Line from the heights above the Liri Valley to the sea does not necessarily make the remainder of the line untenable for the Germans, while the Fifth Army now faces the equally difficult problem created by the Adolf Hitler LineINDIANS’ SCALING FEAT CAPTURE OF PIGNATARO I "LONDON, May IS. British and Indian troops who took Pmnataro after encirclement have continued to oush. forward. , The German News Agency s mintarv commentator, Praegner. st Me.-, the main battles yesterday were fought north-west of Pignataro, where strong Allied tank and infantry forces. under cover of a smokescreen and supported bv massed artillery and combat ’planes, launched a series of major attacks a med at reaching the rear of; the German CasS5n TeWnJ n the S storv of the capture of Pienataro, “The Times’s” correspondent savs: “Pignataro stands on a steep. ?ocky crag which is barely posnf ascent in some paits. The ’ itself is honeycombed with caves whMh the Lemv used for defences Tml-an troops came in from the east Ind an Germans were meoaSd fo™ this move, because they nrobablw considered it the only posroute. Tfiev resisted fiercely, hut the Indians slowlv but sureW hut , Hitfpr street f j?hting. whore lav un-ix a eompanv VaSns wto scaled the rock and prised “a tlon which thev obv onslv > , cd to »stroke by force. AhnT Tire German prisoners the ine ]&ck Qf &ir sl?p . port Pl aiT the superiority of Allied guns and! tanks-

AMERICAN CAPTURE i LONDON, May 17. Americans took Castello Norato (four miles north-east of Formia), after scaling abrupt cliff faces and attacking down-hill into the town, where they ran into numbers of concrete pillboxes. Tank-destroyers knocked out at least six with their seventy-fives. The Americans found great numbers of dead in the streets. A Reuter correspondnt at Allied headquarters says: The Fifth Army holds all high ground in a triangle formed by Castello Norato, Spigno and San Angelo and won a way one and a-half miles into the Aurunci Massif. Many German dead lay in and around Castello Norato after the Fifth Army occupied it. Earlier Enemy Reports battle of equipment main defences yet to be ■ TACKLED. LONDON. May 17. Wednesday’s German High Command communique states: a battle of equipment on the greatest scale is raging along a front of 22 miles of mountainous area on the Italian southern front, with incessant drum/fire barrage, very strong air attacks and extensive use of tanks and mobile artillery. Our troops in face of great enemy preponderance of strength have been heroically resisting for six days. Disengaging movements are progressing accord' Ing to plan. Praegner, and other German commentators emphasise the severity of ♦the lighting. Praegner said that powerful formations of Allied tanks appeared on Tuesday on the whole length of the battlefield. He admitted that a German withdrawal to new defence positions in the rear continued all Tuesday. The Paris radio commentator, Je.an i Paquis, says the Allied Command is turning its offensive into a steam- 1 roller.

The German News Agency said that Kesselring’s forces withdrew seven and a half miles during Tuesday. This withdrawal was actually wanted by Marshal Kesselring. The Alfies have not yet reached the main defence system. The Berlin radio commentator. Captain Sertorius, said: British and Americans have thrown in numerous fresh divisions as the result of, which they gained more ground, where the fighting was hottest. The impression prevails that the enemy for the first time has given un .his manpower “saving strategy.” Sertorius refers to masses of troops and material never employed before on such a scale. HMlensloben admits a German withdrawal of about nine and a-half miles since the opening of the Allied offensive. He predicts fresh Allied landings south of Rome.

BEACH-HEAD QUIET YET The German communique says:— There has been no fighting of importance at the Nettuno beach-head but enemy artillery fire, which has been mounting in intensity for several days, suggests that a large-scale attack will be launched soon. ALLIED SUPPLIES GO FORWARD LONDON, May 17. The Rapido bridge-head has been driven forward everywhere to a depth between four and five thousand yards. Masses of tanks, guns and supplies are continuing to pour across into the Liri Valley. The Hitler Line against which these supplies wifi be used consists of a series of steel concrete pillboxes, protected by barbed ; wire, minefields, anti-tank, anti-personnel, and ditches. There are also, natural anti-tank obstacles. For instance, deep • gullies and flooded marshlands below Pontecorvo, run into a mountain mass into which French and American patrols are now thrusting. RADIO MAN’S OPTIMISTIC STORY. (Rec. 10.10) NEW YORK, May 18, A Columbia Broadcasting System correspondent, in &• broadcast from Naples, said: “It would be a pleasure Ito tell you how far we have progressed so far, but the authorities are content to issue one communique per day, which is not only hours, but miles behind events. You should see truckloads of dazed, exhausted German prisoners, who hardly know what has > happened.