HARD FIGHTING IN ITALY

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXIV, Issue 147, 22 May 1944, Page 5

HARD FIGHTING IN ITALY

|f| ENEMY TANKS SENT BACK. ill A correspondent says that in < tho ill T.iri Valley the battle is raging furiously. There is a lot of shell lire, mostly ffy by the Allies. The Germans brought f up 50 tanks, in the Pontecorvo area, Sflv'kut they were forced to turn back when, the Allies called up air force units to deal with them. . Hard fighting is also taking plnce in the Aquino area, and the possession cf Picdimonte (which was reported earlier to be in the hands of the Poles) is being hotly disputed. Acfoss the Liri Rivet, another battle is being fought for the little town of Pico, which is an important point in the enemy’s switch line. The road from Pico south to Itri is mostly in Allied hands. The enemy is trying to

pin down the Allies, but has failed jte do so. The correspondent says that tho Adolf Hitler Line has not yet been Broken, but the enemy’s prospects of holding off the Allies are not as good as thev were wliett the offensive began 10 days ago. Tile Germans have lost large quantities of supplies and have used up many of their reserves, but they will stillfight hard, and the Germans have already launched several counter-attacks around Pico, where von Jvessclring is trying to prevent the Allies from turning his flank. ; The Commander of the Fifth Army (General Clark) lmd a narrow escape ■when a booby-trap exploded within 25 feet of the jeep in which lie wUs ruling. Several soldiers wore injured by the explosion.

AMERICANS CAPTURE FONDI LONDON, May 21. The Fifth Army is right up. against the Hitler switch line near the Tyrrhenian Sea, and has captured the town of Fondi, on the Appian Way and only 30 miles across the Pontine Marshes from the Anzio beachhead. The capture _of Fondi follows a rapid advance by the 'Americans from Itri. The latest reports show that all along the front the Allies are maintaining their pressure on the German defences of the Adolf Hitler Line. Fierce battles are raging at several places, and the enemy is resisting stubbornly and making counter-attacks.

in retrospect the generalship of General Alexander was vastly superior. His tactics throughout have been to pin down tho enemy and destroy him. “Furthering this plan, the Eighth Army north of Cassino, though not directly involved in the battle, played a large part in preventing the withdrawal of the German forces to support the main battle. The Allied forces at the Anzio beachhead contributed io tho pinning down of several German divisions facing them.” The correspondent adds: “German propaganda is busy trying to persuade the world that there is no such thing as a Hitler Line and prisoners declare it has been ronamed by the High Command the Dora “It is an established fact that the Adolf Hitler . Line was first observed in December with a group of camouflaged objectives across the Liri Valley.”