THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Tuesday, January 25, 1944. TOWARDS ROME

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25442, 25 January 1944, Page 2

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Tuesday, January 25, 1944. TOWARDS ROME

German surprise at the Allied landings on the coast south-east of Rome indicates that the enemy, who has himself introduced some successful adaptations in the use of weapons and machines, has still not grasped a fact which will be Of increasing significance to him. That is the fact of Allied sea-power—which in its concentrated form in the Mediterranean area of operations is now unchallengeable—and its co-ordina-tion with almost equally incontestable air-power. By combined operations—to use the short term to describe the Allied method pf “ amphibious warfare ” which has been developed to • a high degree of devastating efficiency—the Fifth Army has stolen a march on Rome. 'The technique of these successful operations is very interesting, not only for their present success but as a guide to the future, when it may be applied upon a far greater scale. Before the actual landings were made, and during their progress, air power was used not only to cover the actual operations but also to seal-off the routes by which reinforcements could be rushed by the enemy to the breached area. The attack on the enemy’s supply lines is being carried far beyond the Allies’ immediate objectives, Rome included, while his airfields are apparently being pulverised out of existence. The report that only one usable airfield remains in the Rome area suggests that the Allies’ aim is to endeavour to achieve in the air over Italy the same degree of ascendancy as they enjoy in the. waters of the Mediterranean. A shortage of airfields from which the Germans could operate short-range fighters would certainly greatly facilitate the approach to Rome of the land forces coming in from the west. Their progress so far has been almost disarmingly unimpeded, to judge from the enthusiastic reports of the war correspondents. The Germans were both outwitted and outflanked by this fast but care-fully-prepared move. It appears that the British and American forces now hold beachheads of several miles. The southern base is possibly at Nettuno, a fishing town which, something over thirty miles south-east of Rome,-the Germans have admitted is. in Allied hands. Statements putting the landings “ near the mouth of the Tiber ” would bring the Allied spearhead within twenty miles of Rome, which is in advance of most reports. The first point to be noted about the landings is that they threaten a Nazi army variously estimated at five to nine divisions, between the new beachheads and the positions of the Fifth Army on the northern bank of the Garigliano. Up to 100,000 troops are now lodged in the acute angle of an inverted triangle, with the Allied forces from the coast attempting to draw an enclosing line across its base. The success of that strategy would probably be decisive in the battle for Rome. But its failure or partial failure could not affect the great gain that the Allies have derived from their surprise move. This is essentially topographical. For four months their armies have been slogging painfully up the Italian peninsula, first over transverse ranges of mountains, and later along narrow valleys commanded by a resourceful enemy. They are now out of the mountainous region, and their course lies across the undulating plain of the Roman Campagna. This terrain, though from its volcanic nature it still presents natural obstacles in the form of deep ravines and precipitous watercourses, provides the opportunity for movement of which the Allies have been deprived in the long uphill campaign in Italy. They should be able now to use their armour more in the manner that served them well in North Africa, and-it is permissible to hope that the war in Italy has assumed a different tempo. It should not, however, be necessary to emphasise that the brilliant tactics which have brought Allied troops within sight of the Seven Hills have also inevitably exposed them to considerable extra risks. The capacity of .the Germans to recover from the shrewd blows they have sustained is the incalculable factor in the battle which has now been joined.