BATTLE FOR SICILY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25276, 13 July 1943, Page 5

BATTLE FOR SICILY

COASTAL FRONT WIDENED FIGHT FOR INLAND TOWN STRONG AXIS DEFENCE FORCES (United Press Association) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) (Rec. 1 a.m.) LONDON, July 12. The latest reports of the operations on Sicily state that a fierce battle is taking place for possession of'Ragusa, which-is about 30 miles inland in the south-east corner of the island. It is known that Allied parachute troops are taking part in the fighting. The town is defended by 30,000 Axis troops under Air Marshal Kesselring. The Daily Mail says the Allies’ front was widened to 150 miles with the establishment by the Canadians of an important bridgehead near Porto Empedocle, midway along the southern coast of the island. It is officially revealed in Algiers that the task of the air-borne units in Sicily was not to capture the airfields ,but to attack the coastal do-

fences from the rear. 1 Morocco radio declared that the most important event yesterday was the failure of an Axis tank counter-attack near Licata. . The Allies won the first phase of the battle. Reuter’s Algiers correspondent says the toughest resistance met in Sicily was near Cape Passero, where

th e British and Canadian troops landed. The primary resistance was from Italians, composed of semi-static coastal defence units. It therefore appears that the stronger mobile central reserves, including Germans, are being-withheld until the Axis commanders are positive that the south-ea'st corner is really the most threatened area. The Allies, in the corner of the island, havb both flanks protected by sea and can aim to lop off the entire corner of Sicily and build a “wall” across the neck, forming an impregnable bridgehead. On the other hand the defenders may be deliberately delaying their couner-attack in the hope, of inflicting more extensive damage on the landing forces. The Allies have made new landings near ' Marsala, a seaport on the west coast of Sicily, says the Algiers radio, quoting a Berlin radio v ment. The operations are continuing successfully, but the Allies are facing new Axis reinforcements; They Associated correspondent reports that the Allies continue to advance inland and have engaged enemy tank reinforcements near Gela. Pilots report what appears to be heavy skirmishing six to eight miles south-east of the town. The first- news of the landings in Sicily caused an enormous sensatibn in Berlin, reports the Berlin correspondent of the Stockholm paper Tidningen. The German public regards Sicily as a test of Axis military strength. A report received in Stockholm from Berne says that the Italian Fleet has left Spezia. The Berne correspondent of the New York Times says that early German appraisals of the Allied landings do not minimise their initial . success and ultimate strategic importance. It is assumed that the Allies intend to expand the t south-eastern corner of Sicily into a huge spring-board for invasion of the mainland. The Italian public has not been given official details of the progress of the fighting but has been offered a spate of “ pep ” editorials and articles sDessing determination to aid the people of Sicily in the defence of their homes.