NAZIS RETIRING

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24718, 19 October 1943, Page 3

NAZIS RETIRING

VOLTURNO PLAIN SPEED OF ALLIES MENACE TO GERMANS ENCIRCLING MOVE (Reed. 8.10 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 18 Allied forces in Italy are steadily pressing across the Volturno plain and at some points have lost contact with the retreating enemy. At others they are meeting stubborn opposition from German rearguards dug in close to the north bank of the Volturno River. On the right flank Americans have beaten off several fierce counter-attacks and art; forging ahead north-east of Capua. Thf German High Command is expected to order its entire forces in Southern Italy to withdraw toward Koine owing to the speed ot the Allied advance, which is threatening the enemy with a vast encircling movement. according to despatches from Allied headquarters in North Africa. Noel Monks, correspondent of the combined British press with the American forces across the Volturno, says: "The Fifth Army has made the pace too hot for the Germans and they are withdrawing for fear of being over-run." [ Large Scale of Attack ' The Home radio last night said: "With imposing infantry forces, the 1 Allies have launched an attack on a larger scale than ever before. Appar--1 ently they intend to force the road to : j Home. The enemy is throwing in all ! She has."

The British troops which landed from the sea north of the Volturno River form the loft jaw of a pincers movement. They are consolidating their positions along the canal north of the estuary and are striking inland, developing a threat to the German coastal flank. American troops form the right jaw, embracing valuable heights north-east of Capua which dominate the flat land north of the city. Fifth Army troops who_ are fighting for the crossing of the Titerno River, which is a tributary of the Volturno. into which it flows .'SO miles upstream, are now a little over 20 miles from the Eighth Army patrols, which are thrusting out from Vinchiaturo. Scorching the Earth The British United Press correspondent says that when the Allies are in a position to exert full unified pressure from these interlocking movements the l'ate of the Germans in the Volturno region will be sealed. Renter's correspondent on the Volturno front says the Germans are scorching the plain as they fall back in face of the Fifth Army's thrust. Villages in the boggy land north of the Volturno River are in ruins. The Germans set fire to houses, shoot cattle and then fall back under a smoke screen from burning hayricks. One correspondent says he thinks the enemy might make a stand at a line running from .Mount Massico, near the coast, to the upper valley of the Volturno. which turns sharply northward about 30 miles inland. This line, he says, offers good possibilities for defence and may give our troops a lot of t rouble. ENGINEERS' TRIUMPH VOLTURNO RIVER CROSSING BUILDING OF BRIDGES LONDON, Oct. 17 A powerful force of men, tanks, guns and other war material is assembled on the north bank of the Volturno River for the next stage, the thrust to Rome, says Renter's correspondent. Along the British sector anti-tank guns, sixpounders and 17-pounders continue to be ferried across. Tanks are also being transported in landing craft. Other tanks are being waterproofed and forded across the river. The construction of bridges is speeding the passage of masses of the men and material which are concentrated on the south bank. These are pouring across the river as each new bridge becomes available. "After 48 hours of bitter fighting and bridge building it can be said that the battle of the Volturno crossing is won," says one correspondent. "Jt was a triumph for the British and American combat engineers as much as for the troops who made the initial assault. "Until tanks, tank destroyers, antitank guns and light artillery could be got across the river our troops were sustained only by the sheer weight of their assault. They over-ran many German machine-gun positions in a gallant drive forward, and the fighting was fierce throughout the first 24 hours. German self-propelled guns, some of them of SB m.m. calibre, held our infantry up half-way across the river valley until the engineers succeeded in getting the first tanks and tank-destroyers across." Correspondents say that the commander of the Fifth Army, General Clark, expected a week of hard fighting for the crossing of the Volturno. which, however, was gained in 48 hours of mighty effort. ALLIED NAVAL ATTACK REPORT BY BERLIN RADIO LONDON, Oct. 17 The Berlin radio reports that British warships yesterday again bombarded the German positions north of the Volturno estuary. It stated that German fighter-bombers hit a large warship, which was later seen to be submerged by the stern. A heavy cruiser was also damaged.