ALLIES INVADE ITALY

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXIII, Issue 237, 4 September 1943, Page 5

ALLIES INVADE ITALY

BRITISH AND CANADIANS TOUGH FIGHTING IN PROGRESS LONDON, Sept. 3. Allied Headquarters in North Africa announce that the Eighth Army has landed in Southern Italy from Sicily. The latest report states that hard fighting is going on, mostly against crack German troops.. A special communique from Allied Headquarters this morning said: "The Allied forces under the command of General Eisenhower have continued their advance/British and Canadian troops of the Eighth Army, supported by the Allied sea and air power, attacked across the Straits of Messina early to-day and landed on the Italian mainland."

The v landing occurred at 4.30 a.m. on the beaches opposite the town of Messina, in the Sicilian tip, reports the Algiers correspondent of the National Broadcasting Corporation.

The British and Canadian troops stormed the beaches and were supported by British warships. A report from Washington says that the operations are proceeding satisfactorily.

The Columbia Broadcasting System's Algiers correspondent says the landing is a continuation of the previous campaign and is not the start of a new campaign. Another correspondent says that hard fighting is going on, and it may be some time before more definite news can be given. The British troops are sure to be up against experienced German forces and heavy figbting is expected, the correspondent continues. He says that the terrain in the toe of Italy favours the defenders, there being a mountainous ridge rising sharply from near the coast. It is similar to that between Catania and Messina, and lends itself to strong defences and the use of demolition methods.

Tho attack, says the correspondent, ■was preceded by several commando raids, which gained valuable information regarding the enemy's dispositions and also knocked out some of tho coastal defences. Meanwhile troops and materials were pouring into the ports from which the invasion was to be launched and a great fleet of invasion barges was being assembled:

Last night the preparations had been completed, and suddenly the silence Was broken by a terrific bombardment as the Allied guns opened fire. Barges, laden with men and machines, escorted by cruisers and destroyers, began to pour across the Straits of Messjna. By 4.30 a.m. the men were scrambling up the beaches and the first landing on the Italian mainland had been made.

Six hours later barges were still streaming to the Italian coast. # . Meanwhile, the Allies are keeping tip their air raids on Italian communications and are sweeping from one end of the country to the other.

VITAL RAILWAY BOMBED. In Northern Italy the vital railway which runs through the Brenner Pass and carries more than half the traffic between Germany and Italy was attacked in daylight by American Flying Portresses, which struck at three I separate places, including Bologna, the important junction where the lines from the north-west through the Simplon Pass, from the north via the Brenner Pass, and from the north-east meet. Great damage is reported at all three places. Only one lortress was lost.

In all the day's offensives 15 Allied planes were lost. The enemy lost 34. The news of the landing has been received eagerly throughout the Allied countries, where confidence is expressed that it will be successful. In Washington, President Roosevelt and Mr-Churchill sat up late to hear the news. ~ , ~ The United Press says that the absence of the mention of American troops in the landing has stirred speculation that they may be poised for a further landing in Italy or else•tvhere, possibly Sardinia.