OPENED BY THE FIFTH ARMY IN ITALY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 January 1944, Page 3

OPENED BY THE FIFTH ARMY IN ITALY

In Blizzard and Against Formidable Mountain Defences

AVERAGE ADVANCE OF MILE ALONG FRONT OF TEN MILES

ALONG ROAD TO CASSINO AND ROME

LONDON, January (>. In Italy, the Fifth Army is on the move with a big attack on a ten-mile front on the road to Cassino and Rome. . The Germans have been thrown out of mountain positions on either side of the road. British and American troops went forward at dawn yesterday and at the end of the day they had, on the average, advanced a mile.- The key point is the mountain village of ban Vittore, which the Germans have fortified heavily, in the hope of making it another Ortona. The Americans burst into the village today and grim fighting is going on. . It had been hoped to put down a carpet of bombs in the path of the Allied advance, but the weather grounded the heavier aircraft. Invader fighter-bombers, however, took up the task of attacking the enemy troops with gunfire and bombing. d x . As they advanced the Allied troops were met, not only by concentrated machinegun and mortar fire, but by heavy shelling from enemy field guns and larger guns in the hills beyond. Allied artillery concentrated on the enemy gun positions. , . , , A corespondent states that the Allied attack was launched in face of a blizzard, snow and tremendous enemy gunfire, but by night the Americans had taken part of San Vittore. It might take a long time to battle through to Cassino, the correspondent added, but the Allies had made a good start. The Canadians are now firmly established on a ridge three miles north of Ortona, dominating the coast road to Pescara. Two British destroyers shelled the Adriatic port of Pesaro last Monday, pouring 200 rounds of shells into the port. In recent operations in the Mediterranean, British submarines have sunk eight more enemy ships, including a large tanker and two ammunition ships.