STRONG ALLIED PRESSURE

Southland Times, Issue 25709, 19 July 1943, Page 5

STRONG ALLIED PRESSURE

Axis Forces Fall Back (Rec. 8.40 p.m.) LONDON, July 18. Under relentless pressure from the Bth Army the Axis forces defending Catania were last night falling back to the approaches of the bombarded and burning city, says Reuter’s correspondent at Allied headquarters. General Sir Bernard Montgomery’s army has rolled up the enemy’s right flank and the battle for Catania is entering its last phase. Nevertheless, the re-formed 15th Panzer Division stands across the Bth Army’s path, apparently determined to fight grimly for this key city. The Germans drawn up for Catania s defence have nursed the. disquieting knowledge that further reinforcements from the west of Sicily are unable to reach them, .except by long and devious routes. The Germans know that they are in this battle alone, because direct communication between the Germans holding the coastal region south of Catania and the Axis forces in southwest Sicily were cut when the Canadians captured Caltagirone, which commands the road south of the Catanian plain to the coast. Tonight, a week after the first landing, the whole Allied front is now shaped like a giant W from the Catanian plain to the Canicatti area. The British United Press correspondent with the Allied forces says the latest estimate is that Sicily may fall within the next three weeks. The Americans on the left flank captured Agrigento, the main south coast port and naval base, and are continuing their advance in a north-westerly direction. Agrigento is situated four miles inland behind Port Empedocle and is the biggest rail junction in south Sicily, linking Marsala, Palermo, Ragusa and Catania. There are no further important towns ahead of the Americans all the way along the coast to the north-west if they continue to advance in that direction. After the capture of Caltagirone and Grammichele yesterday the Canadians in the central sector are making the most spectacular mountain advance, carving out a still larger salient. POWERFUL ALLIED FORCE An Italian report says that detachments of Allied troops are constantly being dropped from the air behind the Axis forces. The Allies have already landed at least 11 divisions with heavy equipment. Three Italian divisions concentrated at mainland ports to reinforce Sicily are still in port, kept there by the Allied blockade. Vichy radio claims that large Axis infantry reinforcements, supported by strong air and armoured forces, have arrived on the Catanian plain. The British Ist Army is participating in the assault against Catania. A correspondent with the United States forces in Sicily says that thousands of American tanks, many manned by Tunisian veterans, are being landed in support of the American 7th Army. They are being ferried to the beaches from a gigantic Allied transport fleet. Allied warships are gradually silencing the Axis land batteries trying to shell tank-landing craft. A compilation of the last seven days’ reports show that Allied casualties are amazingly light, states the Algiers correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain. There are proportionately fewer Americans injured than British and Canadians. The greatest number killed or missing are among the air-borne troops. One British division effected a landing on the east coast of Sicily without a single fatality or serious injury. Hospitals which prepared in North Africa for from 10,000 to 20,000 wounded are actually caring for a fraction of what they expected. Italian prisoners told an American' doctor of Italian parentage: “We did not shoot to kiU. We shot to perform our duty until we could recently sur-

render. We knew six days before starting that you were coming to Sicily. All the Italians secretly wanted you to land and save us from this abominable war.” The Algiers correspondent of The New York Times says that a British naval officer who interviewed 450 prisoners reported that for the first time in his experience he found Italians hostile to Mussolini and fascism. A favourite saying among the Italians, culled from Allied leaflets, is: “The Germans will fight to the last Italian.”