ALLIED FORCES EXTENDING HOLD ON ITALY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 211, 7 September 1943, Page 5

ALLIED FORCES EXTENDING HOLD ON ITALY

WIDE BRIDGEHEAD HELD

MEETING LITTLE OPPOSITION MONTGOMERY DIRECTS ADVANCE IBy Telegraph—Press Association—Copy righ') 8 p.m. London, Sept. 6. Hg The Eighth Army controls the whole of the northwest corner of the Italian toe and is extending its gains and east along the coast. Reinforcements are constantly arriving and British ' and Canadian troops arc Hooding into the interior from a bridgehead stretching from Bagnara to Melito. According to Paris radio, the British have driven inland 25 U miles at some points. The Allied troops are little opposition, and more than 2000 prisoners, mostly Italians, have been captured. The Columbia Broadcasting System’s Algiers correspondent says that the Italia*: fleet has abandoned the Taranto naval base, in the heel of Italy.

Towns captured by the Allies include Reggio, San Giovanni, Bagnara. Melito, Scilla and Ballaro. Algiers radio says that Allied troops are on the nutskirts of Palmi. General Montgomery is at Reggio directing the advance.

Photographs show that the terrific pounding from tae Allied bombery in the past fortnight have done crippling damage to Italian railways and roads, says Reuter’s Algiers correspondent. A bridge over the Isarco River has . been smashed, cutting the main line | from Bolzano to Trento and deprivI ing the Germans of their main supply line from Germany. A concrete road bridge over the Adige River was destroyed. Four craters block the main Verona-Bolzano line. A rolling-stock repair depot at Pisa was The lines from Pisa to Florence, Leghorn and Spezia are all blocked. The lines to Naples, Salerno, Torre Annunziata, Capua and Benevento are all blocked at Cancello. Algiers radio states that there is little food in Calabria. The Italian Government completely ignored the needs of the people. Allied troops distributing food to civilians are being hailed as liberators. Denying statements that peace demonstrations occurred in several Calabrian towns following the invasion,. Rome radio declared: “Italians desire an honourable and, if possible, an early peace, but do not resort to street demonstrations. The Calabrians, far from demonstrating, clamour for arms to defend every inch of their country. Italians will react to the invasion exactly as the British and Americans would.” In the captured towns and villages the Italians are showing themselves just as friendly as they were in Sicily. There has been very little active opposition to the Allied advance, and only a limited amount of artillery fire. No large-scale minefields have be'*n encountered, but enemy demolitions have increased and are slightly affecting the progress of the forward troops. Air patrols report that most of the enemy positions in the southern part of the toe of Italy have been abandoned. White flags are fluttering over a number of Axis gun-pits, and enemv strong-points, though stocked with sufficient ammunition and food to enable them to hold out for a month, are surrendering without firing a shot. A correspondent says it looks as if the enemy has withdrawn most of his strength from this area. He explains that about 70 miles ud from th n end of the peninsula the land narrows and forms a kind of bottle-neck entrance into the northern part of the toe. Axis troops south of the bottle-neck, which is only 20 miles wide, would be in danger of being cut off by Allied landings on the neck itself. It is thought that the Germans are likely to make a stand on a line north of the neck where the country widens considerably. All correspondents agree that the real fighting is yet to come. Behind the front the invasion organisation is going smoothly, and local carabinieri are assisting the military police in controlling the trgffic, which one correspondent says is like that of New York. Mail was being delivered to the troops two days after the invasion. There is no front line. Sappers are looking for mines and building tracks around demolished bridges. Sometimes gunfire is heard in the distance and a mortar shell lands close by and now and again machine-gun fire is heard, but that is the only sign of battle so far. In one sector Canadian troops advanced several miles inland without being fired at. Only twice did they meet German troops, and on both occasions the firing came from th® Canadians. Allied aircraft again report a great scarcity of targets in the invasion area. The only sign of any enemv air activity yesterday was when *2O Italian fight er-bombers appeared over the Straits of Messina, apparently looking for Allied ships. They ran into “a patrol of Spitfires, which shot, down eight of them and ‘damaged eight others.

AMGOT OFFICIAIS FORWARD WITH THE ARMY Recd. 6.30 p.m. Rugby. Sept. 5. Officials of the Allie 1 military government of occupied territory (Anigot) camp in with the landing parties on Friday morning and are reported to have stated that among th? first signs erected in the village of Gfillico was the Anigot sign. There will no longer be a gap between the capture of a town and its administration under Allied military government. The first Amgot official to land was a lieutenant of the United States • Army who is of Italian extraction. ’ The dispatch continues: “As in Sicily, ft looks as if the task will be feeding. housing, health and administration. They are gentle people, and respond at once to the Amgot formula of firm administration coupled with generous assistance.” Another correspondent reports that the Sicilians are settling down under the Allied military administration. “They seek employment from us eagerly,” he said. “They take their troubles to anyone wearing the British or the American uniform. The strained and hungry look is fading from their faces. On the east coast nearly all those who left their homes and remained on the island are now returned home. They have resumed 1 their trades and are all as familiar; with the Allied occupation money as with lire.”—B.O.W.

GAINS BEIN£ EXTENDED APPROACH TO PALMI . R?cd. 6.30 p.m. London, Sept. 5. The Eighth Army now controls the whole north-west corner of the Italian . toe and is extending its gains north and east along the coasts. According to Paris radio the British have driven inland for 25 miles at some points, and more than 2000 prisoners, mostly Italians, have been captured. Algiers radio says that Allied troops are now on the outskirts of Palmi, 25 miles north of Reggio. The Columbia Broadcasting System’s Algiers correspondent says that the Italian fleet has abandoned th? Taranto naval base, in the heel of Italy. The Eightn Army is organising road and railway communications between (Bagnara and Melito. Extensive demolitions have slowed'up the advance, but the transport problem has been eased by the capture of over 300 locomotives and other rolling stock. The Allies now hold the coastal strip from which the Italians and the Germans during the Sicilian evacuation put up one of the world’s fiercest antiaircraft barrages. The enemy has moved hundreds of anti-aircraft artillery units out of the area. Cairo radio s?’ r s that the Allies fired about 150,000 .ells across the Straits of Messina h* the 60 minutes preceding the initial landings in the Reggio area. This tremendous barrage blew the enemy gun emplacements to bit s :. The radio added that battleships and many other warships are ceaselessly shelling the Italians and the Germans in the south of Italy. To-day’s Italian communique states: “The enemy, supported by large air formations, has intensified the flow of troops and armoured units and penetrated inland and occupied a few localities in Calabria. The defenders between Palmi and Bagnara, after throwing the first British landing force into the sea, have been forced to withdraw from Bagnara. xr iolent fighting is in progress east of Bagnara and on the slopes of Aspromonte Mountains.” The Aspromonte Mountains run for about 15 miles east of west near the south coast of the Italian toe. Paris radio states that the Italians and Germans have evacuated Cape Spartivento, 18 miles east of Melito. Allied pilots, flying deer into the toe of Italy, saw white sheets laid out in fields and gardens, indicating the people’s desire for peace. The townspeople at Reggio greeted the men of the Eighth Army waving white flags and cheering. The civilians everywhere are most friendlv. Th? Germans are believed to be keeping whatever strong forces they •‘have north of the Catanzaro Isthmus. Thn Axis forces in the interior have still one escape road—the eastern end of the transverse road, the western end of which is held by the Allies at Bagnara. Forty miles beyond the Eighth Army/ spearhead at Bagnara the Italians have bottle-neck positions across the arch of the Italian foot. This is the first of a series of such natural positions which are characteristic of the peninsula road. Demolitions in the beach areas have been largely ineffective. There is a surprising absence of mines. Demolitions in the interior, however, are on a fairly large scale, and the advance inland is therefore more cautious and slower than the sweep around the coasts. There has been a slight increase in enemy fighter-bomber activity as supplies and reinforcements pour in from [the beaches, hut Italian airmen over I the Straits of Messina are oughly j handled by Spitfires. NAVAL GUNNERY CREDIT BY THE TROOPS i Recd. 6.50 p.m. Rugby. Sent 5. , The artillery bombardment of the i Calabrian shore is described in a [Press message as having been given credit by the troops on the mainland jas the principal factor in the lack oi (resistance. The morning's barrage following those of the last few days utterly demoralised the Italian defenders. There were marks of the | bombardment everywhere along the l [beaches, roads, and tracks, and in the I villages up the ridges. Many Italian I soldiers were too shell-shocked even [to give themselves up, and were found! [in a dazed condition, hiding in holes lor houses. The only British casualties on Friday were accident cases or normal ■ cases of suddenly-developed sickness. [ The only bad casualty in one whole battalion was a private whose companion accidentally shat him through the foot.—B.O.W. ARREST OF CIANO Recd. 6 p.m. London, jS?pt. 5. The German radio, quoting the Turin newspaper Stampa, says that Italian police arrested Count Ciano after the discovery of his hiding-place, it is also reported without confirmation that his wife, Edda, Mussolini's daughter, was arrested. Rome radio stated that the Marchese Neghelli (Marshal Graziani) sent a letter to the newspapers denying reports that he had been arrested.

SAFER THAN EXERCISES

THE LANDING AT REGGIO Recd. 6 p.m. Rugby, Sept. 5 A Press correspondent in Italy describes the landing as easier fvnd safer than some of the tough exercises which the British and the Canadians underwent in their long months of training in the United Kingdom. It was carried out with far fewer casualties than on the first day of the SociHan campaign. Although the first sappers got ashore at 4.30 a.m.. and the bulk of the assault troops at 5 a.m. or later, practically all the Italian side of the straits was under General Montgomery’s control by noon. Reggio was taken with hardly a shot being fired. A war correspondent is able to reveal how, five days before the landing several sn»’» n . groups of British commandos landed secretly on the extreme south-west tip of the peninsula for reconnaissance. “Their observations had given grounds for the belief that, the resistance was likely to be feeble,” he says. “This, indeed, was the case. Three-quarters of an hour after the first troops touched the mainland ground flares announced that the beaches had been cleared, and after that everything went as by clockwork. “What is transparently established is that the methods employed by Generals Alexander and Montgomery for forcing an entry to the European fortress have been abundantly justified. The enemy must have known the general direction of the attack, though not the precise point at which we should land. He was well aware of the importance of preventing us obtaining a bridgehead on the mainland of the Continent. Yet he failed to offer any opposition, and in that failure may be measured’ the extent to which the preliminary softening-up process achieved its objective.” Another correspondent draws attention to the total failure of the Luftwaffe to take the initiative at any recent period in the Mediterranean war. “Never was the opportunity greater than on Friday morning if the German air force had any remnant of its 1940 vigour,” he says. “During the half-hour crossing of the straits and the hour when I returned I did not see a single German plane. Will Germany ever have such a chance again in this theatre of war as that offered to her this morning? When I landed in Sicily eight weeks ago I had to wade ashore. To-day my amphibious jeep swept majestically on to the narrow sandy beach and drove straight on through a plantation by the main road beyond, When we landed in Sicily any beach at least h£d been protected with barbed wire against impending attack, and frequently mined. Here there was no attempt at wiring, and up to now no mines have located in the neighbourhood.”—B.O.W.

AFTER THE LANDING TROOPS’ SATISFACTION Recd. 6.5 p.m. Rugby. Sept. 5. When the artillery barrage on the Italian mainland lifted on Friday morning, a well-known British correspondent boarded a “duck,” one of those steel trucks that roll into the sea and become a motor-boat. He reports that it looked as though a vast regatta was in progress. Every imaginable type of warship was bouncing on the sparkling water—“ducks,” snub-nosed invasion barges, cruisers, destroyers, and scores of smaller craft. “Despite the frightful barrage, Reggio still looked intact,” he said, i “The streets were gradually filling! with soldiers and Army trucks. Hundreds of men were at work driving wire-netting tracks into the sand, carrying ammunition ashore, and drawing vehicles out of the transports. The weary, sweat-stained men who had carried the assault looked up with grins. I have never before seen quite this communal sense of pride in achievement. The men knew they had done well, and now that the dangers and fears of the night landing were over, they were brimming with confidence. It had been a most professional thing, and I found it hard to credit how so much had been done in six hours. Already roads were sign-posted in English and dressing stations and local headquarters were going at full blast. Petrol dumps were being set up and military police were getting to work on traffic. "The Canadians were very proud to make the landing with such success. They feel that Dieppe Is wiped out by this day's work.”—B.O.W. LABOUR PROBLEMS ALLIED SOLUTION Recd. 10 p.m. New York, Sept. 5. The Allied Military Government (Amgot) proclaimed a free labour movement ana abolished all Fascist labour organisations. Thus Italian workers have freedom equalling British aad American workers, says the New York Times' Palermo correspondent. The Labour programme provides for an office of conciliation, meaiation and arbitration, with the workers choosing their own delegates. No strike or lock-out is permissible during the military occupation, but it is understood they will be legalised as early as possible. Existing collective contracts between workers and employers covering hours, wages and conditions will be continued for a time. Thus th e Allies have abandoned the idea of applying AngloSaxon labour principles to the Ital- | ians. Instead they retained the best features of Fascism, making the resumption of Syndicalism possible. The correspondent points out that the Amgot’s Sicilian experiences demonstrate its problems in setting a | new pattern for much of post-war Europe. The abolition of Fascism and Nazism is tantamount to creating a new form of Government. The AlI lies found chaos in Sicily and there is little reason to expect it to be different in Italy. The Amgot did not greatly change the civilian personnel, as Fascist officials were needed to carry on. The Sicilians ■ show little desire to run their own Government. Badoglio, who is working on parallel lines to those of the Amgot, trying to abolish Fascism, must similarly use the Fascisti. The Amgot’s experience in Sicily seems to strengthen I Badoglio's chance of remaining in power after the Allies enter Rome. He could be highly useful, which was the criterion in Darlan's case. Badoglio has not Darlan's record for treachery. Badoglio’s authority seems the only chance of using the Italy army for Internal security and against the Germans. The Amgot has a small problem at Palermo compared with Rome, which will be easy compared with Berlin. We are getting an idea of what reconstruction is going to mean.