FIFTH ARMY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25365, 25 October 1943, Page 3

FIFTH ARMY

BATTLE TOR VENAFRO ALLIES ADVANCING FIERCE COUNTER-ATTACKS (Rec. 0.30 a.m.) LONDON, Oct. 24. The Fifth Army in Italy has begun a battle for the vital German communications network, centring on Venafro, says the Algiers radio. Venafro is also the easternmost pivot of the Germans’ new defence line. General Clark has swung the right wing of the Fifth Army up the Apennine Valley towards Venafro, and advanced troops are within 16 miles of the town. The Eighth Army is progressing slowly against hard enemy resistance in the direction of Isemia. The Cairo radio stated that the Germans fiercely counter-attacked both the Fifth and Eighth Armies yesterday, but the Allies flung them back, and the Fifth Army advanced four miles towards Rome. The Germans near Baranello, on the Foggia-Rome road, have taken up fortified positions, hoping to check the Allied advance. Formations of the Eighth Army occupied Lupara, 15 miles north-east of Campobasso. Other formations, west of Campobasso, are advancing. They attacked the German positions on the slope of the Biferno River, the Germans resisting fiercely. The Allies repulsed an enemy counter-attack at Montecilfone. The Bari radio says that nine German divisions are now facing the Fifth and Eighth Armies. The Germans in Milan have taken possession of all the hotels and shops and are transporting everything portable to Germany, including cars, bicycles, and live stock, says the Algiers radio. Deadly Air Attacks Reuter's Algiers correspondent says Air Chief Marshal Tedder’s air fleets, with deadly persistence, are now isolating Rome from the north, blockading the city which is western Italy’s communications bottleneck. The correspondent points to the significance of the aerial blockade in the present situation, in which the opposing armies are sparring for positions. Correspondents declare that the Germans, under the devastating rain of bombs, are facing the impossible task of repairing the shattered chain of roads, rail bridges, and highways on which Rome’s entire supply system depends. The Allied planes are sweeping the skies almost unchallenged, and the fury of their attack is at present overshadowing land operations. The air force’s methodical destruction of bases of German resistance in Southern Italy is playing an allimportant part in blasting the. road to Rome for the Fifth and Eighth Armies. An earlier message said that General Clark’s army is massing for a big battle, which it is believed will be fought among the picturesque Apennine valleys. The Fifth Army is expected to strike along the upper reaches of the Volturno against Venafro, which is 10 miles east of Cassino. The right wing of the thrust which resulted in the captures of Alife and Piedmonte Dalife has already gained important positions less than 20 miles from Venafro. The capture of Alife and Piedmonte Dalife straightens the Allied line from Dragoni to Vinchalturo. After the capture of Alife a heavy German counterattack was repulsed. Further Landing Possible Despatches to the Swedish press from Berlin state that the regrouping of Allied reinforcements in Italy and the assembly of Allied forces in Sicily and Sardinia indicate that General Eisenhower is preparing a big invasion of the west coast of Italy behind the German front. The newspaper Dagens Nyheter quotes a Berlin spokesman as stating that Marshal von Kesselring has anticipated the eventuality of Allied landings at several places on the west coast, and is fully prepared.