AXIS RESISTANCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25277, 14 July 1943, Page 3

AXIS RESISTANCE

STAND IN EAST PLANNED CONCENTRATION OF FORCES RUGBY, July 12. As the Allied troops pushed further into Sicily to-night Axis forces were reported to be massing near Agrigento, apparently for a drive against our left flank, according to a despatch from Allied force headquarters. The heaviest Axis concentrations on the island are believed to be round Trapani and Palermo, Allied reinforcements are still pouring in. General Eisenhower visited Sicily to-day and commented that he was quite satisfied with the progress made. He added that everything was going along nicely. Reuter’s says the enemy is hitting back strongly against the Allied forces. Seven powerful counter-attacks have beet, made in the past 24 hours against the Allies on their 100-mile front. The heaviest counter-blow was directed against the centre of the American sector at Gela. The attacking force, which included 45 tanks and a considerable body of infantry, was completely repulsed. Enemy Movements The Axis is believed to be making preparations for an all-out stand in Eastern Sicily, where Allied tanks ana enemy reinforcements are now coming together. Considerable enemy movements were observed from Western Sicily towards Agrigento, which is just inland from Porto Empedocle, and approximately 20 miles from Licata. The Columbia Broadcasting System’s correspondent reports that Axis reinforcements moving south have jammed the roads. Mustangs in Sicily yesterday hit an Axis convoy comprising 400 vehicles. The Allies in South-east Sicily hold a strip of land extending inland 15 to 20 miles. Allied advanced troops on the left flank of the bridgehead are 15 miles south-east of Ragusa. Algiers radio repeated unconfirmed reports from Stockholm that the German underground radio had stated tnat a. fierce battle was raging at Ragusa, where Air Marshal von Kesselnng is stated to be leading 30,000 Germans in attacks against the invaders. Cape Passero is now firmly in Allied hands. The junction of the British and Canadian troops was carried out 55 miles from Cape Passero. The Allied forces are now astride the vital Syra-cuse-Fozallo road. British and Canadian troops in 'the Syracuse area are opposed by the 54th Napoli Division.. Morocco radio reports that Catania aerodrome has been captured. Allied troops attacking the Axis forces in Sicily include crack men who distinguished themselves from El Alamein to the final Tunisian battles.

Reuter’s says the Allied losses in the latest successes are light. The inhabitants of the occupied zones are adopting a friendly attitude towards the Allied troops: According to reconnaissance reports, large-scale Allied landings are still being carried on along the whole 100-mile South-eastern Sicilian coastal area. Landing of Canadians

Slicing through the Italian coastal defences in the night, and landing at dawn on the long crescent of beach, the Canadians, with a crack British formation on their right flank, overran the Pachino Peninsula within 24 hours and established the invasion bridgehead, . according to a detailed eye-witness account of the Canadian assault and the first 24 hours just received. The correspondent continued: It was one success after another in this Canadian-British sector, as the greatest combined operation in history was launched. The Canadians advanced into the hilly country northwest and west of Pachino. The coastal defenders out up only a mild fight. The first wave of assault, companies from a famous Canadian regiment, landed on the sandy beach of the Costa del Lambra, four miles south-west of Pachino, at 5.15 a.m. on Saturday. The Canadian casualties on the first day were very light, under 40 being reported. ' , The Italian beach defences, which folded up like a concertina, were merely barbed wire and some machine gun posts, which fired a few bursts, and then gave up. At one beach the enemy was evidently counting on a sand bar 15 feet offshore as a natural defence, but the Canadians surprised them completely by coming in in the heavy surf and battling ashore through water up to the waist. The coastal batteries shelled the boats, but their firing was erratic. The Canadians went through the beach defences in minutes and struck inland, rhopping up groups of Italians en route.

The Royal Navy had been giving the troops magnificent gun support the whole day, and not a single enemy aircraft was seen. The beach looked like a big traffic jam, with tanks, guns, and trucks ploughing through the sand to the roads leading inland. It was almost unbelievable to the Canadians that the first stage\could be so easy. At night bombers attacked the troops near the beach and tried to hit the ships under the glare of flares. The raid lasted only about 30 minutes, and was not effective. Our ack-ack from the ships and shore was terrific. The Canadians, who were trained in Britain for the assault, sailed straignt from there to Sicily without being attacked at any stage. They described the 2000-mile unopposed journey as “ fantastic.”