ALLIED GAINS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24894, 16 May 1944, Page 6

ALLIED GAINS

SECOND EDITION

ATTACK IN ITALY NAZIS YIELDING STERN FIGHTING TANKS AID INFANTRY By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Herd. 1.30 a.m.) LONDON, May 15 Three days of tremendous Allied assaults in Italy have produced considerable results, reports Reuters ■correspondent with the Eighth Army. The enemy is withdrawing from his remaining Gustav Line defences between Cassino and the sea, fighting for every inch of .ground yielded. * The- Eighth Army's brideghead across the Rapido is now over 2000 yards deep and a great number of 'tanks are over the river. Additional bridges have been constructed and the existing ones improved. One bridge' yesterday came under five from 30 German guns.

Use of Local Reserves The Germans are using their local "preserves to the maximum. Eighth Army troops have captured technical person- . nel fighting as infantry. Kesselring is beginning to man the Adolf Hitler Line defences in the rear of the- 1 Gustav Line. These formidable defences run in an arc through five towns 011 the edge of the Liri V alley Piedmonte, Aquino, Pontei'orvo, San Olivia and Esperia. German engineers in the" past few months have been constructing and improving gun emplacements and pillboxes on tactically perfect positions.

The enemy gained some ground in a counter-attack against Indian positions 'nine miles inland from the Adriatic. The Indians are now counter-attacking. The Germans are strengthening their positions in the Adriatic sector, and much digging and pneumatic drilling is heard from the enemy lines at various points along the front.

Counter-Attacks Repulsed Eighth Army troops, after repulsing enemy'counter-attacks south of Cassiuo, ■ have pushed forward parallel to flighway 6, which is the main inland road to Rome. '- The Allies captured 120 men of a German parachute division defending Cassino. Our tanks and infantry, advancing south-west of San Angelo, are finding the going most difficult. The Germans are using tanks and self-propelled guns all along the Liri Valley front. The enemy forces defending Cassino are threatened by the latest Allied advances between Cassino and San Angelo, says the British United Press correspondent with the Fifth Army. Ihe "attack in this sector has developed '■more slowly than at other points, because of the difficulties in bridging the 1 Rapido River, but once the Sherman * tanks were across, they helped the infantry to over-run considerable parts ■ ,of the German line. The Germans are still fighting in the 'ruins of Castelforte, and enemy artillery at the same time is heavily shelling the town.

Importance of Successes

French troops have captured the villages of San Ambrogio, Vallemajo and i Ausonia, and American troops have cut " the Ausonia-Formia road. . The capture of San Ambrogio, Vallemajo and the key town of Ausonia, lias effectively breached the Gustav Line, "'Bays Reuter's correspondent at Allied headquarters. The Americans, by cutting the Ausonia-Formia road, sealed ♦ up "the lower exit from the Ausente - Valley, and bottled up aTI J German " troops still in the valley. It is not known how many enemy are_ there, or how many succeeded in escaping. ;* Our tanks are finding the going difficult, because of the soft terrain which bogs them down. This has proved a greater handicap than enemy artillery or tanks. Mines are less numerous 'than expected. Cassino has been rela--.tively quiet since the start of the attack' and fighting completely died down yesterday. , The Exchange Telegraph Company s correspondent at the Allied headquarters reports that the French breached the Gustav Line on a front about three miles wide and penetrated ' German territory to a depth of over five and a-half miles. The British United Press correspondent states that enemy reinforcements are expected shortly in the Liri Valley, and no rapid German withdrawal is anticipated. Ausonia is nearly six miles across the Garigliano River and under five miles south-east of Esperia, which is believed to be the right flank bastion of the Adolf Hitler Line. Monte Ma jo is -almost directly east of Ausonia. San Ambrogio is further to the north-east, near the junction of the Liri and Garigliano Rivers.