ON ENEMY'S HEELS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24759, 6 December 1943, Page 3

ON ENEMY'S HEELS

EIGHTH ARMY DRIVE

SURPRISE ADVANCE IN NIGHT (Reed. 10.10 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 5 While Algiers reports of-the capture of San Vito, which is five miles south of Ortona, are not officially confirmed, other agency messages state that advanced elements of the Eighth Army have reached the outskirts of San Yito. There is no doubt that the Eighth Army is making 5 very good progress. Lanciano, the evacuation of which is admitted from German sources, lies less than 10 miles south of Ortona, while Orsogna is six miles west of Lanciano. Treglio is three miles northeast of Lanciano. It is understood progress has also been made in the direction of Guardiagrele, four- miles west-south-west of Orsogna, and at the foot of towering Majella, the second highest spur of the Apennines and over 8000 ft. high. The Eighth Army continues to tread on the enemy's hfels north of the Sangro in the direction of San Vito. says another report. In the Treglio area the Germans mafde a series of heavy counter-attacks, but the position remained in Allied hands. Battalion Surrounded In all the fighting British armour has played again a very active role against its old familiar enemy, the Panzer Grenadiers. These have been fighting since El Alamein. They occupied Sardinia, retreated to Corsica and have since been iu Italy. They complete the total of 12 divisions fighting on the combined Eighth and Fifth Armies' fronts. The Allied troops who took Orsogna surprised the enemy by advancing through the Majella mountains during the night and attacking in the morning. The enemy force was cut off on two sides of a triangle through rough hill country under cover of darkness. The British troops rubbed out German outposts and surrounded a battalion headquarters, capturing the commander. When they closed in on Orsogna the enemy put up a brisk fight, but was soon overcome. Orosgna is 10 miles south-south-east of Chieti. Winter Line Crumbles The Eighth Army has captured Casoli and straightened out the line in this sector, says the Algiers correspondent of the Kxchange Telegraph Company. The advance in the Orsogna area has reached a point nine miles from the Sangro River at a point 12 miles from the Adriatic. The Algiers radio says that the 10th German Army, operating along the Adriatic coast, has abandoned its positions and is retreating, following the crumbling of the entire German winter line. The British United Press correspondent iu Algiers states that the German rearguards are retreating so hastily that they have.had no time to blow up bridges. Renter's correspondent in Algiers reports that the Eighth Army troops who battered their way into Castelfrentano found the town a heavily-fortified strongpoint. The Germans made a desperate stand and launched a number of unsuccessful counter-attacks. Stubborn Resistance Castelfrentano was captured only after most stubborn resistance by the enemy, who had turned it into an exceedingly strong fortification, states a correspondent. The Germans launched several counter-attacks, but failed to dislodge our troops, who were fighting just as desperately as the enemy. The German casualties were heavy. Fierce fighting took place in the area around Lanciano, which stands on a 900 ft. ridge. Congratulations on their great success have been sent by General Montgomery to all troops who participated in the Sangro River operation. "You. in two days, wrested from the enemy the whole ridge which dominates the Sangro Valley," he said. "The ridge was the whole framework of the enemy winter line on the Adriatic axis. It was a very fine performance. All troop? have done splendidly. I am delighted with the whole business." INGENIOUS BOOBY TRAPS LONDON. Dec. 4 The Germans are again using many booby traps in the south of Italy, says Router's Naples correspondent. These include photographs of Hitler, dustcovered bottles of chianti (wine), wheelbarrows and thermos flasks, all of which blow up when touched, also gas ovens and refrigerators which explode when opened. The most despicable trap is the body of a German soldier, which blows up the medical orderly intending 'to bury it. One of the lastest and most cunning is _ an object like a pair of binoculars lying on the highway. Soldiers, scenting a booby trap, throw a string round the binoculars and retire to a convenient ditch —but when they pull the string the ditch blows up instead of the binoculars. 0 ITALIAN PRISONERS LONDON. Dec. 4 The War Office announces that Italian war prisoners held in the United Kingdom, the Dominions and elsewhere on November 15 totalled 357,630, of which 6103 were held in Australia.