HAVOC ON ROADS

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

HAVOC ON ROADS

ALLIED AIR ASSAULTS MASTERY OF THE SKIES LONDON, July 12. The Allied airmen are undisputed masters of the Sicilian skies, and are causing terrific havoc along the roads, which are jammed with Axis troop transports rushing reinforcements to the battle areas, reports Reuter’s Algiers correspondent. Axis fighters vainly tried to stem the massed assaults. The scenes are reminiscent of those during. Rommel’s retreat from El Alamein. Flying Fortresses bombed Catania so extensively before the capture of the airfield that a pillar of smoke, visible 140 miles away, rose over the shattered town. Fighter-bombers carried out strafing and glide bombing and dive-bombing attacks. Their most extensive and most successful attack was against a convoy ,of 200 vehicles in Eastern Sicily, in which Mustangs repeatedly pounded the enemy. Half the convoy w£S wiped out. Fighter-bombers destroyed another 130 lorries in fierce attacks in two unspecified areas. Lightnings in other areas swooped on convoys of from 35 to 50 lorries, setting fire to some and forcing others off the road into ditches, where they were wrecked. Allied roving aerial wreckers met few enemy nlanes and only light flak. Malta’s day and night fighters destroyed 27 enemy aircraft over Sicily and Southern Italy on Saturday and Sunday. The enemy frequently attempted to attack shipping, using small mixed formations, but our Spitfires maintained a ceaseless watch, and the Beauiflghters had their turn during the night.

The biggest action was In defence of Allied shipping, when a dozen Junkers 88’s, escorted by over 30 Focke-Wulfs 190, approached. The Spitfires were on them before they could release their bombs, and five minutes later four Junkers had been shot down.

Other pilots frequently reported intercepting bombers and either shooting them down or forcing them to jettison their bombs without harm to the Allied ships. Supply Problem Eased

The capture of Syracuse and Licata, both deep-water harbours, should greatly ease the Allies’ task of supplying the forces, says the British United Press military correspondent. It also places the forces at a point where they can by-pass the comparatively wild hilly country lying in the south-east tip of Sicily. The country north of Syracuse is low-lying, and should enable our naval forces to give easy support to any move along the coastal area.

Of the three aerodromes captured, Licata and Pachino are quite small, and offer no great facilities, although they can be used for fighters. Geia aerodrome Is fairly large, but all three aerodromes are at present too close to the front line to allow, the Allied air forces to operate from them very extensively. It is considered unlikely that the enemy has -many bombers still based in Sicily. He may have at the most a few light bombers. The latest trend in Italian propaganda is indicated by the official Italian News Agency’s circulation of 12 coditions, whch, it says, the Allies will impose in the event of the successful invasion of Italy. The points are: Surrender of the Italian fleet; suppression of the metallurgical and engineering industries; reduction of the Italian army to the bare minimum necessary for the maintenance of order; abolition of the army’s tanks, artillery, and machine guns; cession of Pantellaria, Tobruk, LA Maddelena, and other strategic bases to Britain; cession of Istria, Pola, and Trieste to Jugoslavia; cession of several lonian and ACgean islands to Greece; surrender of Italy’s colonial empire for an' indefinite period; suppression of the cultivation of cereals and limitation of agriculture to vegetable growing; and suppression of many universities and the abolition of classical teaching to prevent Italian youth from learning of the greatness of Rome. Defenders’ Estimated Strength According to Allied sources, the enemy forces defending Sicily may consist of 12 divisions. Two are probably German, the remaining 10 being five Italian coastal divisions and five Italian infantry divisions. The com-mander-in-chief of the Axis forces is General Guzzoni, who is over 60, and commanded the Italian landing in Albania in 1939. He was placed on the retired list in 1941, but was recalled to take command of the island this year. Reconnaissance pilots report that landings by American and British forces are still being made on a large scale. Enemy flak was weak, and machine-gun fire from enemy motor convoys was inaccurate. Pilots saw naval vessels firing on Girgenti and large fires at Nazzarino. Beaufighters searching the Tyrrhenian Sea for the enemy fleet and shipping movements attacked small convoys. One formation carrying torpedoes saw two small vessels escorted by a destroyer off Sardinia. Both the merchantmen were so severely damaged that one was left sinking and the other on fire. A second formation of torpedo bombers found only a destroyer and one ship, which they also hit with torpedoes. A third formation attacked a ship escorted by a destroyer north of Sicily, leaving both vessels stationary.