SMASHING CANADIAN THRUST

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 May 1944, Page 3

SMASHING CANADIAN THRUST

On the Eighth Army Front An earlier message stated that Canadian troops today smashed through the Hitler Line on the Eighth Army’s front and advanced far beyond it. On the main Fifth Army front American troops dealt another blow to the defence line by capturing the important bastion of Terracina. In the Anzio beachhead, Allied troops have driven further inland, cutting the Appian Way, and have taken many prisoners. The most spectacular advance of the day was made by the (Canadians north of Pontecorvo. Following on another massive onslaught early this morning, the Canadians advanced three miles on a front nearly a mile wide into the Hitler Line. Canadian tanks quickly exploited the breach in the line and drove up the Liri Valley to a river five miles from Pontecorvo. At one stage the Canadians were advancing at the rate of 1000 yards an hour. The men of one of Germany’s crack regiments, the 19th Panzer Grenadiers, were reported to be giving themselves up freely. Other Canadian troops closed in on Pontecorvo itself. A correspondent states that the town is now surrounded. At the northern end of the Eighth Army’s front another village is almost completely surrounded. While the Canadian troops were smashing through the centre of the Hitler Line, American troops on the main Fifth Army front made a new assault on Terracina. The Americans, supported by tanks, carried all before them and ninety minutes after the attack began they were in the town. This brought the Allied troops to within 20 miles of the Anzio beach-head, which is connected with Terracina by the Appian Way over flat country through the Pontine Marshes. In the beach-head, British and American troops and tanks have driven further inland and taken many prisoners. There is no indication how far they have advanced. It is known that • they have penetrated the German defences on a wide front to a depth of a mile at several points. They have advanced across the Appian Way and driven dangerous wedges in both sides of the key enemy town of Cisterna.