GERMANS TRAPPED

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

GERMANS TRAPPED

FORCES SOUTH OF TROINA RAPID BRITISH ADVANCE LONDON, Aug. 10. Reuter’s Algiers correspondent says that, by sealing up the triangular trap south of Troina, the Eighth Army, in a rapid advance north of Aderno, has cut off all possible escape of the German troops m the area. It is uncertain how many Axis troops are caught in the trap, but it is unlikely that the rearguards, who were told to fight to the last man, got away. The correspondent added that General Montgomery, whose movement on the right coastal flank is now severely limited by the narrow deployment area between Etna and the sea, will be able to send the bulk of his army around Etna for a big blow against Randazzo The converging Allied forces are now bearing down against Randazzo over roads thickly sown with mines and with road blocks barring every defile. German resistance in this vital salient is stiffening every hour. The ground

is essentially suited to the enemy’s delaying type of warfare. Every feature of the fantastically rugged terrain can be used to form natural defences. It is a tremendous task trying to clear every ridge, cave, and rock offering the enemy concealment. Absolute Air Superiority

The Allies, maintaining absolute air superiority, threw the full weight of the' North-west African Air Forces against the enemy’s lines of communications and supplies. Bomb-carrying fighters all day swept up and down the roads bombing lines of motor transport, causing blocks on the narrow highways leading from the German front. »

A naval bombardment is making the entire coastal road to the north through Taormina extremely hazardous for the German retreating columns. The British United Press reports that Fortresses have now joined in the increasingly heavy day and night shuttle service maintained by the Allied planes over the tip of the Messina bridgehead and Messina Straits. R.A.F. Halifaxes and Liberators also made new attacks against San Giovanni, the Italian terminus of the Messina ferry. Our planes significantly found no fighter opposition worth mentioning over the Messina “Dunkirk” area, including the Messina Straits and the toe of Italy, but Messina’s anti-aircraft barrage is still being maintained. The Germans are not expected to give up Randazzo without the stiffest fight. They are using every trick they learned in . the long retreat from El Alamein to try to hold up the British and American forces before Randazzo as long as possible, realising that if the town falls too quickly the Axis forces retreating to Messina will be gravely endangered. Dynamite Campaign The enemy has begun a dynamite campaign on a really large scale. Whole sides of the mountains are being blown up, often wiping out the narrow roadways below them over which our men must advance. The left wing of the Seventh Army moving up along the north coast is less than five miles from _ Cape Orlando, after advancing six miles in the gast 24 hours. , . ■ The Seventh Army advancing to the east from Troina has made a junction with the Eighth Army in front, of Randazzo and the pass between Bronte and Troina, thus completing ah unbroken Allied front. It is a month to-day since the British and Americans landed at different points on the south* coast. Since the opening of the campaign the Eighth Army has advanced 80 miles and the , Seventh Army 120.