Now 25 Miles From Rome

Manawatu Times, Volume 69, Issue 123, 27 May 1944, Page 5

Now 25 Miles From Rome

LONDON, May 25. Earlier messages stated that with the junction of the troops in the beachhead with those on the main front, a single Allied line now stretches across Italy, with the nearest point only 25 miles from Rome. Commenting on the junction of the troops, a spokesman at Allied Headquarters said it should not be long before the two fronts were firmly established as one. The Fifth Army would develop even greater strength than hitherto

Meanwhile the offensives from the beachhead and the southern front are progressing very well. The Fifth Army forces in the Anzio sector have penetrated the strong German defences as much as three miles, and the fall of Cisteraa appears to be imminent. Allied troops are on the outskirts of the towns with others to the west and east and south. In addition, cutting a section of the railway between Sezze and Albano, the beachhead forces have crossed the Appian Way and occupied Lavilla, one mile east of Cisteraa. Allied artillerv broke up seven sizeable counterattacks.

Fighter-bombers yesterday destroyed 359 vehicles and damaged 296 others. Long Bnes of German reinforcements Which Allied airmen observed to the south were probablv intended for counterattacks against the beachhead

The Eighth Army, meanwhile, is 1 streaming through the Liri Valley, from which it is sweeping the Germans. Allied forces in great strength have flooded into the terrain beyond the Adolf Hitler Line, says Reuter’s correspondent with the Eighth Army. Our men and the weight of their armour are throwing the enemy back beyond the Melfa River. Other Allied units are systematically monping uo isolated pockets of German resistance. Long Allied supplv columns are already proceeding to the front along the valley. Berlin radio stated to-day that Aquino had been evacuated. POLES MEET STIFF RESISTANCE

Stiff resistance is being offered to the Polish attackers by enemy parachute and mountain troops in Piedimonte and on the southern slopes of Monte Cairo, despite the threat to their rear, states a correspondent at Allied Headquarters. The Piedimonte forces are virtually surrounded. Meanwhile, British troops have been in close contact with the enemy and have pinned him to his defences in the Aquino sector. The total number of prisoners taken by the Eighth Army is now approximately 3000, Including a substantial

number of the First Parachute Division, which has been losing heavily by clinging stubbornly to its positions, as was done at Cassino. Sonnino, with a population of 6600, was taken on Tuesday after bitter seesaw fighting, states the correspondent. Further gains in the rugged northern sector were achieved on the following day with the occupation of Monte Fortino and Hill 69 The enemv troops in this area are the 127th infantry Regiment, recently moved from the beachhead. Monte Cerreto, two miles southwest of Pastena. was captured yesterday, and the advance was continued northwest along the Liri Valiev east of Pico.

On the beachhead the enemy appears to bo reforming in several olaces for additional counterattacks in force Since the start of the offensive artillerv has broken uo seven sizeable counterattacks. More tanks are now being used by the Pifth Army in the beach ead battle than at anv time since landing at Salerno. Deen minefields have caused some damage to our tanks, but the main body has pressed through halting.

The Associated Press’s correspondent reported on Thursday night that American tanks supported by infantry were wiping out> the last German resistance “n the centre of Cisteraa. The Allied troops who broke out of the beachhead were fighting mad after four months of confinement, stated the combined British Press correspondent. Something more than superiority in tanks and guns, and even in numbers, was responsible for the successful breakout. Our troops were so fighting mad that they even outmatched the fervour of the German paratroops. It was this spirit that carried the men as much as three miles on tbfe first day and helped them to storm the most heavily defended sectors.