TOWARDS MESSINA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25299, 9 August 1943, Page 3

TOWARDS MESSINA

GERMANS RETREATING FIERCE REARGUARD ACTIONS (Rec. 11p.m.) LONDON, Aug. 8. Reports from the Mount Etna region indicate that the Germans are still retreating towards Messina under cover of fierce rearguard actions. Reuter’s correspondent attached to advanced Allied headquarters suggests that the struggle for Sicily is fast drawing to a close. Pilots returning from patrois believe that the Germans are making great efforts to save as much of their remaining equipment as possible. They state that the Germans are using steel craft like the landing barges in which we invaded Sicily, and that enemy barges seen moving to the west have been piled high with deck cargo, some of which is thought to be motor transport. This traffic between Sicily and Italy is believed to be busier during darkness, when the enemy stands a better chance of evading air patrols. Reuter’s Algiers correspondent says the Germans retreating towards Messina are fighting fiercely without the Italians, who were withdrawn from the front because the Germans feared that mass surrenders would disorganise the defence. Our experienced desert airforce pilots are hammering Axis convoys, jumbled bonnet to tail and winding along mountain roads leading to the north-east from Mount Etna. The navy is still shelling the eastern coast road', while the Allied air forces are ceaselessly pounding ports, beaches, barges, and communications around Messina. Canadian infantry, tanks, and guns are fighting their way through waterless hills and mountains north-east of Regalbuto. Three or four days ago they left the roads and went into the mountains, a successful move which evidently surprised the Germans. The Americans, further north, are pressing on relentlessly, according to the German military commentator, Captain Sertorius, who last night credited them with the capture of Sanagata, on the northern coast road, about four miles north-east of San Fratello. The radio says it is officially announced that the Seventh and Eighth Armies have taken 125,000 prisoners. The American naval force on Thursday occupied Ustica Island, 40 miles north-west of Palermo, says Reuter’s Algiers correspondent. The Algiers radio says the Germans walked out of Catania, leaving the Italians to hold the bag. The Italian commander complained bitterly that the Germans neglected to tell him they were leaving.