N.Z. TROOPS’ ATTACK

Southland Times, Issue 25335, 11 April 1944, Page 5

N.Z. TROOPS’ ATTACK

TWO NAZI-HELD STRONG-POINTS GERMAN CASUALTIES (Rec. 0.22 a.m.) LONDON, April 10. New Zealanders attacked two strong-points and inflicted casualties on the enemy, says the Italy communique. Our ~ artillery in the Tyrrhenian Sea sector destroyed several tanks. Patrols and artillery were active on all fronts. Fighterbombers attacked rail communications in the Rome area, also artillery emplacements north of the battle area. All the guns along a mile of the American-held Garigliano front ceased firing for 45 minutes this morning while loudspeakers only 400 yards from the German lines broadcast an Easter service in German, says the British United Press correspondent with the sth Army. An American Lutheran chaplain of German descent said: “We have been instructed to love all men, even our enemies. Christ died for Germans and Americans alike. Therefore I wish you in the name of my soldiers

a happy Easter.” Immediately after the service ended the Americans fired a burst of mortar fire. No German shells landed in this sector during the service, but artillery fire went on in adjoining sectors. GERMAN CLAIMS ,

The Berlin radio’s war reporter, Guenther Weber, quoting members of the staff at Field-Marshal Albert Kesselring’s headquarters says: “The entire situation on the Italian front is stabilized in Germany’s favour, but the German Command is hourly expecting new. enemy landings in the Gulf of Genoa and the Gulf of Venice, to which German troop concentrations have been directed. Fighting will soon flare up in Italy, but the German Command is not worried about the location of the expected Allied drive. It has prepared for all eventualities.” Weber reveals that fighting is going on between the Germans and Italian guerrilla bands in northern and central Italy. He claims that 841 guerrillas were killed and 259 taken prisoner in the last fortnight of March. FIGHTING IN BOSNIA Germans Suffer A Defeat (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, April 8. In western Bosnia the enemy suffered a great defeat and Yugoslav troops succeeded in reoccupying Markonietrad and Jajce, states a Yugoslav communique. The enemy suffered heavy losses in men and material and among other war material destroyed were two tanks. In the Podravina Valley, Croatia, units of the 6th Corps occupied the town of Pdravska after heavy fighting and advanced as far as the river Drawa. RELEASE OF FASCIST (Rec. 8.20 p.m.) LONDON, April 9. A former Fascist chief, Cesare Rossi, whom the Allied authorities detained last December for investigations, has been released.