AXIS PREPARES FOR ATTACK

Southland Times, Issue 25705, 14 July 1943, Page 5

AXIS PREPARES FOR ATTACK

Possible Drive On Allied Flank

(8.0.W.) RUGBY, July 12. As the Allied troops pushed further into Sicily tonight Axis forces are reported to be massing near Agreigento, apparently for a drive against our left flank, according to a dispatch from Allied Force headquarters. The heaviest Axis concentrations on the island are believed to be round Trapani and Palermo. Allied reinforcements are still pouring in. General Eisenhower visited Sicily today and commented that he was quite satisfied with the progress made. He added: “Everything is going along nicely.” The scene on the beach where the general went ashore was one of intense activity. Groups of men bared tq.the waist unloaded ammunition and stores from landing craft, putting them into lorries which sped over the beaches to the roads engineers had hastily built through vineyards. At the far end of the beach landing craft were putting more troops ashore. General Eisenhower and his party crossed in a British destroyer, arriving off the Sicilian coast just as dawn was breaking. He stood on the bridge as the destroyer sailed through the long lines of the huge invasion armada. Approaching Licata there was a big

cruiser turning towards the land. A correspondent with the Comman-der-in-Chief’s party says: “This was followed by the flash and boom of her guns and we wondered what the target could be. Then we saw a puff of dust far inland in a hillside and realized that this was just another combined operation. A small party of the enemy was holding up our troops who were finding it difficult to get their guns into a good position to attack the target, so the big guns of the Navy took on the job.” On the Pachino Peninsula General Eisenhower went ashore. He climbed down the side of the destroyer into an amphibious jeep, which carried him across the harbour to the beach. During his drive round the countryside the Commander-in-Chief met a number of Canadians. He halted the jeep once and asked an officer to convey a message to the Canadian general welcoming the Canadians to his command. General Eisenhower visited Lieuten-ant-General G. S. Patton’s headquarters, where he heard of the progress the American troops were making. He also heard how warships broke up an enemy tank attack on Saturday. CAPTURE OF HARBOURS The capture of Syracuse and Licata, both deep-water harbours, should greatly ease the Allies’ task of supplying the forces, says the British United Press military correspondent. It also places our forces at a point where they can by-pass the comparatively wild, hilly country lying on the south-east tip of Sicily. The country north of Syracuse is low-lying and should enable our naval forces to give easy support to any move along the coastal area. Of the three aerodromes captured Licata and Pachino are quite small and offer no great facilities, al- !• though they can be used by fighters. > Gela aerodrome is fairly large, but all ; three aerodromes are at present too j close to the front line to allow the j Allied air forces to operate from them . very extensively. It is considered un--51 likely that the enemy has many bomb- . ers still based in Sicily. He may have ; at the most a few light bombers. 1 The south-east corner of Sicily, ’ is now firmly held and artillery 2 duels are being fought out on the hinterland of the front. The capture of Syracuse by the British ; troops is the greatest achievement of arms so far in the Sicilian in- , vasion. Its fall is a serious embarrassment to the Germans, who were last reported pushing south to bolster up this bastion of their eastern flank.

Although by no means all the land- I ing beaches in Sicily can yet be supposed immune from the enemy’s artillery fire the Allied forces seem already to be disentangling themselves from ■ the initial difficulties that persisted to the end of the Gallipoli expedition, says The Times in an editorial. This . satisfactory beginning was brought u about partly by the priceless advantage 11 of decisive air superiority and doubte less partly by the enemy’s continuing g embarrassment in having to be still ? on guard against possible descents on 1 to the coasts of the island. The enemy ® may have deliberately chosen to re- } serve his strength for a later effort, a rather than challenge the landings with r his full power. The Daily Mail says: “Heavy fighting 1 is inevitable, but the great thing is " that the plunge has been taken. The 1 invasion of Hitler’s Europe has begun.” e GIANT UNDERTAKING The Allies, are turning the mountains of south-east Sicily against the enemy by using them as a defensive shield s during the establishment of a bridge- ;, head, says the military writer of The - Daily Express, Morley Richards. The establishment of bridgeheads is the main' task before an advance can be ’ made in force. To put an infantry j division into the battlefield requires 12,500 tons of war stores packed in f more than 179,000 cases. This excludes tanks and field pieces, which have to be landed separately. It is a giant - undertaking when it is remembered 1 that the enemy’s field army of 200,000 ’ and nearly as many men again in static ’ defence are on the island awaiting the ! invaders. The New York Times says: “There is ’ no doubt that the world is now wit- • nessing in Sicily and Russia the de--1 cisive campaigns of the war. Tire Allies achieved an initial success in Sicily with military precision and co-ordina- ■ tion of all arms unequalled in any military campaign.” ALLIED COMMANDERS General Montgomery Now In Sicily (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, July 12. General Sir Bernard Montgomery, leader of the victorious Bth Army in North Africa, is in command of the British forces in Sicily, reports Reuter’s Algiers correspondent. General Sir Harold Alexander is deputy com-mander-in-chief under General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Lieutenant-General G. S. Patton is in command of the American land forces, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Andrew Cunningham is in command of the naval operations, Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder is in command in the air, Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay is naval commander under Sir Andrew Cunningham and Vice-Admiral H. K. Hewitt is commander of the, American naval forces. Lieutenant-General Carl Spaatz is commanding general of the North-west African Air Force, Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham is commander of the North-west African Tactical Air Force, Major-General James Doolittle is commanding general of the Strategic Air Force and Air Vice-Marshal Sir Hugh Lloyd is commander of the North-west African Coastal Air Force. Sir Bertram Ramsay is mentioned by General Eisenhower as one of those responsible under Sir Andrew Cunningham for the precise timing and perfect technique displayed on the beaches of Sicily. He is the officer who, as a viceadmiral, planned the Dunkirk evacuation and last year arranged the North • African landings.