EIGHTH ARMY PROGRESS.

Kaikoura Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 59, 31 July 1944, Page 3

EIGHTH ARMY PROGRESS.

SEVEN MILES FROMFLORENCE. LONDON, July 26. The Sth Army has made substantial advances along a 30-miles front south of Florence. Advanced sx>earheads to tae south-west have reached San Casciano, which is seven miles from Florence. To the south-east, the drive has also made good progress.

A communique from Allied Headquarters says that other Sth Armytroops have pressed forward six miles north-east of Arezzo. Gains have also been mp-de in the valley of the Upper Tiber. In the west, sth Army troops are massed along the south bank of the Arno River. There have been patrol work and artillery duels. No big change is reported on the Adriatic front.

“Four Allied forces are converging against Florence,” say's Reuter’s correspondent at Allied Headquarters in Italy. ‘ ‘ They are (1) the French, who are advancing along Highway 2 from Greve and are under nine miles from the city r ; (2) the British in the Upper Tiber Valley-, who captured Meleto, four miles from Figline, which is 15 miles from Florence; (3) the British in the Mountains, who are an equal distance from the city; and (4) the Americans, between Highway 2 and the west coast, who, after clearing the area south of the Arno River, are 18 miles from Florence.

“The Germans dug in on Monte Pisani, are continually shelling the sth Army* forces in the southern sector of Pisa. German resistance has markedly increased on the sth Army front. American patrols are aggressively probing the Arno River defences.

‘ ‘ The Americans repulsed tw'o substantial German counter-attacks east of Pisa. All the connecting bridges between the northern and southern sections of Pisa have been thoroughly demolished. ’ ’

NEW ZEALANDERS IN ACTION. BITTER FIGHTING REPORTED. LONDON, July 27. Troops of the Sth Army- are engaged in bitter fighting some ten miles from Florence. A communique from Allied Headquarters say's that further east in the valley* of the Upper Tiber other Bth Army- troops are also fighting hard, and have some local gains. f

On the western sector the sth Army troops driving along the south bank of the Arno River are approaching Montel upo, which is ten miles w-est of Florence. Patrols and artillery duels are reported from the Adriatic front. “New Zealand troops of the Sth Army are astride the PoggibonsiFlorence road and west of it they are fighting against German paratroops in the sector previously held by* the sth Army-,” says the correspondent of the Exchange Telegraph Agency. “The New Zealanders are now eight miles from Florence. Their arrival in this sector was made under the greatest secrecy. They had even been divested of the New Zealand flash and cap badge. ’ ’ ‘ ‘ The Americans hold all parts of Pisa on the south bank of the Arno,” says an Allied conymunique from Italy. ‘ * The Bth Army has smashed back desperate German tank attacks eight miles from Florence.