CAPTURE OF FOGGIA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 231, 30 September 1943, Page 5

CAPTURE OF FOGGIA

VITAL ITALIAN AIR CENTRE EIGHTH ARMY’S RAPID ADVANCE (By Telegraph—Preae Aseociatlon—Copyright) The Eighth Army, moving swiftly up the east coast of Italy, has captured the town of Foggia, the most important air base in southern Italy and a key road and railway centre. This news is given in yesterday’s Allied communique, which says that enemy casualties in the fight for the town were considerable. At Foggia and on the surrounding plain there arc twelve landing grounds from which Allied bombers will now be able to strike hard at the Germans in the Naples area and far to the north, as well as in the Balkan countries across the Adriatic. The Germans left a large amount of rolling-stock, including 20 or 30 locomotives, on sidings outside Foggia, say correspondents at Allied headquarters. They were mostly undamaged. The main airfield was littered with wrecked planes. Almost every house was damaged and every street filled with bomb craters. Eighth Army units have already advanced considerably north of the towns.

( On the Fifth Army front south | of Naples, the Allied communique | says, our troops have advancedand captured limited objectives in continuous fierce fighting north! of Salerno. A correspondent say s * that the Allied troops have ai ' vanced a mile and a-half in the ’ hills north of Salerno and now j threaten a town two cr three miles \ further on. The Germans still 4 hold some high ground on curl Znank. ■r The correspondent says the Ger- ' I mans are holding on around Naples j as long as they can so as to sink as I many ships in the harbour of Naples 1 and damage as many buildings in the I city as possible. The Americans have pushed on east | cf the Salerno front, and reports pul taeir advance at eight miles on a front some seven miles long. The Allied troops have also had a success I in the centre. The Eighth Army's success at Foggia seems to have caught the . enemy by surprise. Foggia lies in a | { broad plain which makes ideal going I for tanks, and the force which Gen- ( eral Montgomery sent forward included a good strength of armour. The I Eighth Army quickly broke through ’ and er.tcied Foggia at 3 p.m. yester- * day. * I Further inland among the moan-, tains which separate Italy's east and i v est coasts, other units of the Eight? I Army advanced about 20 miles yes- J terday in the face of stubborn rearguard pressure from the Germans. ' I The town of Melfi was captured by I our men. I The Fifth Army has occupied th* > town of Lioni. 50 mi les due east, ot ( Naples. South of Naples British \ troops of the Fifth Army are still ' fighting hard to smash through the (remaining German defences covering / the Naples plain. A corresponden’ Isays that the Germans must hold these positions as long as they can. I and that that is why the going is / very tough and so slow. / Yesterday, for the second day run- ; rung, bad weather cut down air opera' tions over Italy. Fighters and fighterbombers attacked an airfield north of Rome and a seaplane base in the same area, destroying at least 10 enemy , aircraft cm the ground. To-day's Allied naval communic *e I says that American warships pat/nl- \ ling off south-west Italy are | mg shipping and are ready to lend j support to the Allied land forces, j VALUE OF FOGGIA ! IMPORTANT STRATEGIC ( SUCCESS Reel. 9 p.m. Washington, Sept. 28. "The capture of Foggia is one of tb • most important Allied successes of ’the war from the strategic viewpoint, Jas it brings the Allied air forces nearer Germany and will permit air cover for all operations henceforth in [ltaly and the Adriatic Coast area, especially northern Italy,” said President Roosevelt. \He added that he was not disclosing | a \ military secret when he said the j German General Staff had drawn j circles around several strategic spots : in Europe, with Foggia in thf> centre. “Heretofore.” he said, “a large part I of Germany has been sleeping outside the \ ulnerable ar* a, Now it will not be able to do so.” Mr. Roosevelt said the victory stands out as a demonstration of compile co-operation between Allied lane’, air and natal forces. GERMAN EVACUATION ALERIA, IN CORSICA Recd. 6 p.m. London. Sept. 28. The Germa: • have evacuated Aleria, on the eas oast of Corsica, 40 miles' south of JB. hia. This means that all 1 they holdiof Corsica is a stretch some! 40 miles long and varying in width from a few miles to about 20 miles. A correspondent says that the | enemy are making great use of mines | and demolitions as they withdraw, but | French troops, ai ■; patriots are using* commando fam - successfully. Their I favourite trick is to cut in on the rc-I treating Germans unexpectedly, and I then, having isolated a small grouo.' mop it un. The • my has lost many men in this war. SHELLEO BY NAVY GERMAN POSITIONS Re<*d. 6 p.m. I ondon. Sent. 28. British warships have been s’-ellin* German nosit’ons on the Plain of Naples atong the hasp of Vesuvius today. It is the first ti-n« that our warships have '‘.dded t*» the fight so far north of Salerno. A correspondent in I ?n ohs'Vvntion no r Wls how he co”li I see the <hells hoisting between him ar-l Naoles. It looked as if some hit an ammunition dump as a huge column of smoke rose and mingled with the smoke of Vesuvius. The bombardment was another example of first-£lass Anglo-Ameri-can co-oneration. American observers did the spotting and the British Navy took its range accordingly. The results were perfect, ' ’

i FIFTH ARMY'S TASK

i NAZI POSITION MADE WORSE

; Reed. 7 p.m. London, Sept. 28. Although advancing less spectacularly than the Eighth Army, whose capture ot Foggia will perhaps have immediate and important results, the Fifth Army also fought its way forward on its whole front yesterday, mailing Kesselring’s position in the Naples area markedly worse. The Fifth Army is now only a few miles , from the Naples Plain.

| It is already on the hills dominating I Nocera, from which the Germans ■ have withdrawn to a position on the I far side looking down on the village, i British troops have thrust forward | about two miles in the terrible j country north of Salerno, says ReutI cr's correspondent at Allied headquarters. The Germans still hold the higher mountain positions about three miles south-west of Nocera. Fierce fighting is in progress at Caramel Pass, which must be opened up before our armour can be utilised. This pass commands the neck of the

Sorrento Peninsula and from it the road swings north-west to Nocera where it drops to an open plain. The Germans are fighting hard and the battle is assuming the character of a race against the rains. Our immediate aim is to reach the plain before the ground is too soil for armour. but if the Germans decide to light no quick victory is expected when the plain is reached because guarding Naples are two bottleneck’s—a narrow one on the seaward side and a broader, but still awkward one. inland. Algiers radio stated to-night that the German retreat in the eastern sector was continuing. It also stated that the Eighth Army, in the central •sector, occupied Venosa. about tne miles east of Melfi, the capture ot which was reported earlier. The British I Jolted Press says that the Allied thrust in the central sector threatens to cut off from Kesselring’s main body all the German troops remahiing on the Plain of Foggia and in the hilly country east of the main Appenine chain. This thrust is also outflanking the German positions at Naples. A strong Eighth Army mobile - armoured corps, supported by the Air Force, raced 25 miles to capture Foggia after a bloody encounter, in which the Germans suffered the heaviest casualties. The enemy once again was taken by surprise. It is difficult to see how the Germans can avoid a general withdrawal northwards unless it has been decided Io continue fighting at Salerno to give more time for the further destruction of port installations at Naples. Reuter says the Germans are intensifying their efforts to wreck Naples as the Allies thrust nearer. Air pho.ographs show that the Nazis are sinking ships and carrying out demolitions daily. Morley Richards, the Daily Express military writer, says that the Germans are falling back on the hills north of Salerno to avoid being outflanked by the Eighth Army. The desperate defence o F the mountainous approaches to Naples is not an attempt to hold the city, but is planned to give the main German forces time to escape the Eighth Army's clutches. As the Eighth Army moves in the chain of airfields around Foggia will add greatly to the weight of the attack on the enemy rear. Some military observers in London believe the Germans may soon withdraw the whole of their forces from southern and central Italy and man the River Po defences. To-day’s German communique says that the British and Americans have landed new forces in southern Italy. Theii- pressure has increased considerably. The communique claims that lhe German troops in the Foggia area disengaged, according to plan, and withdrew to prepared mountain positions. Foggia was evacuated after the destruction of all important war communications. adds the communique. Berlin radio’s version of the Foggia evacuation savs that the German rearguards attack the British before l'-.c town from the front and from the flank-;. The British suffered ‘.jt.side cable casualties during a day o' fierce fignting, in which their advance was completely stopped. The evacuated ground had been thoroughly mined.