NEW OFFENSIVE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 29 May 1944, Page 2

NEW OFFENSIVE

LAKE ALBANO THE OBJECTIVE HARD FIGHTING AHEAD NEW ZEALANDERS CAPTURE VILLAGES (Rec. 11.40 a.m.) London. May 2 8A new offensive by the British from the centre of the Anzio perimeter towards Lake Albano, 12 miles south of Rome, is announced in a Reuter dispatch from Fifth Army headquarters. The offensive was launched after a heavy artillery barrage had met only light resistance in the early stages, but opposition stiffened later in the day. A correspondent expressing the opinion that a hard fight is ahead in an area of gullies and streams, points out that the Alban hills which are likely to prove the last defence line south of Rome, lie behind the Germns. Correspondents’ dispatches from Allied headquarters announce the capture of Ceprano by the Eighth Army, and Belmonte, four miles north-east of Monte Cairo, by New Zealanders, Norma, 7J miles northwest of Sezze and Villa San StefTRAPPED ENEMY DIVISIONS A late Reuter dispatch says the direct escape route for the German di- > trapped south of Rome has been cut. American artillery to-night are blasting Highway Six directly before Valmontone. Violent tank and infantry battles are in progress before the German last ditch line from Velletri eastward through Valmontone. German rearguards are being steadily forced back below the Rome road. Our divebombers are -constantly raking exit roads, making more perilous the loop northward. The fall of Belmonte indicates that the Germans have cleared out of the entire mountain mass above the sector dominated by Monte Cairo. Norma, also Villa San Stefano, which is north-east of Sezze, were captured by the Fifth Army. Algiers radio stated that San Angelo, six miles east of Sezze, was also captured. “The Times” correspondent at Allied* headquarters says the battle in Italy continues steadily in our favour. The hardest fighting of the campaign has developed for two heights dominate ing Highway Six in the path of the Allied drive towards Arce, says ReuterS correspondent with the Eighth Army. The British are assailing the heights held by fanatical German paratrdops. They are standing on 1000-ft twin heights. Mount Grande and Mount Piccolo, and the 1500-ft Mount Orio. Any Allied move towards the defile draws fire from German batteries concentrated on the hills beyond Arce. The Germans are also fighting desperately to hold an open neck of land less than three miles broad commanding Highway Six soqth of Valmontone. Americans south of this c ucial road have entered the outskirts of Velletri. The Germans pulled more reserves into the line attempting to buttress the gravely threatened positions.