GRIM STRUGGLE FOR RANDAZZO

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25302, 12 August 1943, Page 5

GRIM STRUGGLE FOR RANDAZZO

VITAL ENEMY STRONGHOLD (United Press Association) ' (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) (Rec. 1.30 a.m.) LONDON, Aug. 11. The Eighth Army has pushed on up the east coast of Sicily and has captured a small town four miles from Acireale. It is now 40 miles from Messina, and for the first time our men can see the Italian mainland away to the north-east. The American Seventh Army has advanced from three to four miles along the north coast, and is consolidating its positions. A grim struggle Is being waged in the outskirts of Randazzo, on which units of the Seventh American Army and ‘the Eighth Army are converging in the face of bitter opposition. Advanced troops are within two miles of the town, and the Germans are exploiting their full skill in the use of defensive tactics and demolitions. . A correspondent with the Eighth Army says that Randazzo can be compared with Tunis and Bizerta in the last stages of the Tunisian campaign. The enemy knows that if it falls he will lose all hope of organised resistance. “We are wearing him down,” he adds, “ but progress is slow.” Cruisers and destroyers of the Mediterranean fleet made a daring raid on Castellamare di Stabia, in the Gulf of Naples, on Monday night. The objective of the attack was the naval and shipbuilding yards, which are situated 20 miles across the bay from Naples. The shelling was carried out with great precision. The destroyers went in close while the cruisers stood off and poured their shells direct on the target. On the same night another naval force bombarded railway bridges at Cape Vaticano, on the north coast of the toe of Italy.