HITLER LINE

Grey River Argus, 22 May 1944, Page 5

HITLER LINE

NOT HOLDING OUTPOSTS OVERRUN Main Defences Being Attacked RUGBY, May 20. A' Naples correspondent states:— North-west of Cassino the Poles have occupied Santa Lucia, and patiols have, moved to the nearby town of Piedemonte. Fifth Army .forces, broke into the Hitler Line with the capture of the village of Santa Oliva, and occupied a number or hio’h points west of the village, including Monte Cozonella, two miles south-east of Pico, which is five and a half miles west of Pontecorvo, and fourteen miles west of Cassino. In their advance the French encountered a company of Panzer Grenadiers, who fled, abandoning their weapons. ALLIED LEFT FLANK. FRENCH AND AMERICAN PROGRESS'. lAus. & N.Z. Press- Assn.l LONDON, May 20. An Associated Press correspondent stated: French troops and American, tanks have broken into the Adolf Hitler Line fortifications. An Allied spokesman declared American and French blows south of the Liri Valiev had forced the Germans into a disorderly retreat, abanuoning heavy quantities of heavy equipment which the Allies had so I far no time to sort out. There was also considerable disorganisation in the Liri Valley, but not so complete as in the more southern sector. A spokesman for General Alexander said that the German withdrawal south of the Liri Valley was showing signs of disintegration, artillery having been abandoned bv two German divisions. The Germans have not lost their power of resistance. There are indications that behind the Adolf Hitler line, north and south of the Liri River,, the Germans have prepared a switch line running south-west from Pontecorvo in a straight line over the hills through Fondi to Terracina.

Americans beyond Formia fanned out north and south, with reconnaissance units attending to German stragglers. Americans had a tougn battle before they won Formia. German artillery attempted to block the road to Itri. The enemy left many snipers, mines, and boobv traps. Before retiring the Germans set Gaeta on fire. General de Gaulle returned to Algiers to-day . after a three days’ visit to Italy for an inspection of the victorious French troops on the Fifth Army front and a conference with General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson, General Sir Arnold Alexander, and Lieutenant-General Mark Clark. General de Gaulle said that he was most satisfied with the “ground our troops and our Allies have taken —the number of Germans taken prisoner and the amount of material captured speak for themselves.”

EIGHTH ARMY PROGRESS.

LONDON, May 20.

A Reuter correspondent stated: The Germans await the next blow from the Eighth Army, which is feeling its strength and is exercising its superiority with telling effect The battle since the fall of the Cassino Monastery, has jumped ahead rapidly. The Germans have been so spending their strength between the Gustav and Adolf Hitler Lines that the Adolf Hitler Line may not be manned to resist a sustained attack. “British and Dominion troops are rapidly controlling more and more of Highway Six, while the Poles continue to clear the parallel slopes on the Allies’ right flank. This vital road, on which the Allied forces will eventually march to Rome, is difficult to destroy. It should be well preserved for Allied use.” New Zealand tanks operating on the right flank are reported to have reached the Aquino aerodrome, about a mile east of the town. The Bnt<s . after crossing the Rapido E-iver. had to fight every inch of the way through most intricate country, undulating, split up by deep streams and also screened by trees, but the rapjd French advance south of the Lin greatly assisted their advance.

GERMAN COMMENT.

LONDON, May 20.

The Official German News Agency stated: “The advancing Allied forces in Italy again made contact with the German troops, who were earlier withdrawn to new positions. The Allies have reopened their attacks, using concentrated artillery, tanks and combat aeroplanes." Berlin radio stated: Allied spearheads linked up between Esperia and Cassino over a wide front, with the severest attacks at Pontecorvo and Santa Oliva. Heavy battles were progressing. A Berlin radio reporter, Albrecht, declared: “The enemy’s mighty array of weapons, both artillery and tanks—the concentration of all his available aeroplanes in non-stop attacks, also his immense fire power—have combined into a great steam roller which has been grinding over our positions since May 11. The enemy is throwing in strong contingents and is using them with a ruthlessness hitherto unknown.”

BRITISH JOURNALISTS KILLED.

LONDON, May 19

Roderick MlacDonald, war correspondent of the “Sydney Morning Herald,” and Cyril Bewley of Allied Newspapers Limited, an English group, were killed on the Italian front yesterday. Accompanied by an officer they were moving up behind advancing Eighth Army forces at Cassino, when their jeep came under German artillery fire. They sought shelter in a field and stepped on a mine which exploded. The officer who was uninjured, recovered the bodies. MacDonald achieved fame when he landed with glider troops in Sicily. He was captured bv the Italians and escaped. He is the second “Herald” correspondent to lose his life in Italy. William Munday was killed near Salerno in September. .RAID ON ROME. "LONDON, May 20. . The Rome radio announced that British and American aeroplanes attacked Rome or (Friday, killing fifteen and injuring forty.