’ FIFTH ARMY SMASHES INTO NAPLES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 232, 1 October 1943, Page 5

’ FIFTH ARMY SMASHES INTO NAPLES

GERMAN LINE BROKEN

' ALLIES MOVE FORWARD IN CENTRAL PLAIN OF ITALY ' IBy Telegraph— Press Association—Copjrixat) Ried. 11 p.m. London, Sept. 30. The Fifth Army, after six days of tough and arduous fighting, smashed through the German defensive riig in the wall of mountains separating the plain of Naples from the Gulf of Salerno, and advanced toward Naples. The Allied forces at one point are only two miles from the centre of Naples, say Morocco radio. Elsewhere they are 5| miles, and the average distance from the centre is four miles. In its advance across the plain of Naples the Fifth Army captured Pompeii, the important port of Castellammare, and Nocera. One-sixth of Italy is now in Allied hands. .The Germans are trying to get out of Naples as quickly as theylean in good order, and to leave as little as possible intact. a military spokesman at Allied headquarters stressed that there is no suggestion of the Germans retreating in disorder.

Military observers in London Jelieve the Germans will attempt to mak» their next stand along lhe VoVurno River, 29 miles north k If Xiples. The German rear/uatd in the mountains protecting (WTplain of Naples had to be aayoneted, bombed, and blasted trom their strongpoints. The Germans {ought bitterly for Hx days to hold the outer defences ol Naples, and when they saw that the lituation was obviously impossible they carried out a swift and orderly Withdrawal.

A correspondent says there are no Indications that the enemy torces Were cut off or that large numbers of prisoners were taken, but the terlitorial gain of the Allied forces has peen very great. They are now on he coastal plain, and their advance is likely to be rapid. While the left flank of the Fifth trmy was battling its way forward ard by yard through the hills south f Naples, the right flank drove towards the inward side of the Naples >lain and the key communication entre of Avellino. The men on the ight flank are reported to be within 0 miles of Avellino. A later repdrt from the United Nations radio says we have already •ecupied San Angelo, due east of Avellino. and the Germans to-night admit the evacuation of a number ol places on the road to it. With the light and left flanks of the Fifth i Army closing in on Naples from two and the Eighth Army moving rapidly ahead against weak enemy resistance beyond Foggia and far to the east, the Germans were left with ho alternative but to retreat from the Naples plain. A correspondent points out that the Comprehensive destruction carried out by t.ne enemy in Naples indicates tleariy that they do not intend to hold the city or return to it. He thinks it it unlikely that they will put Up any imfortant resistance to the Advance cn Naples apart from light Belaying actions and qemolitio.is. The Allied line is likely to change in the hear future.

The Germans have blown up the Royal Palace and other famous buntings in Naples from sheer spite, says an Italian officer who escaped from the city. Factory machinery was also destroyed. The British United Press reports that the Fifth Army, in a spectacular break-through of tne German hedgehog system, seized six principal townships or villages and aiso at least 20 other smail villages. Inlantry at flawn cn Weonesday, after an all-out barrage with 25-pounders and other guns, swept through the hills down to the plains and the Bay of Naples. The Fifth Army, by striking throug.i -■{the hills, by-passed Corrento and Equinas, which have also fallen to us, With the entire Sorrento Peninsula, measuring approximately 75 square miles. Tne Germans, as our attack developed withdrew from their positions on the peninsula. The riftn Army also struck out east r,id northeast, capturing Acerno, about 20 miles east of Salerno. Montemarano, three miles north of Cassano, and Torclla, about 40 miles north-east of Salerno. At the first light of dawn on Wednesday the Fifth Army moved forward in ram, which was tne first since the Allied landing, says Reuter. They lought their v.ay down the tortuous Caramel Pass and by noon had captured Nocera. The naval base ol Castellammarc, 14 miles across the bay from Naples, teil shortly afterwards. Castellammare has shipbuilding and repair facilities and a population of about 45.000. The heaviest lighting of the day occurred at Safa, three miles southwest of Nocera. which had already changed hands several times in the past tew days. Here the Germans put up a determined counter-attack, which was repelled.

Immediately the pass was won U Allied tanks climbed over the mountains to the Naples plain, and General dark s army moved forward along the entire front from the west coast to the centre of Italy. The advance in the mountains above Salerno was two miles and in other ••ctors six miles. The Eighth Army •too swung forward from the Fiftn Army’s flank to the Adriatic, capturing Zappoaeta, on the coast east of Foggia. A British officer summed up the battle of Caramel Pass to Reuter: "It has been a bloody fight,” he said, “but. Jt was bloodier tor them than for us.” Explosions shook Caramelia village as the Germans blew up the roads ahead. There are still snipers in the houses. Berlin radio last night admitted the loss of three places north and northwest of Salerno which are not mentioned from British sources, namely Baronissi, Montoro, and Castel san Giorgio. Berlin radio admitted that the Fifth Army had captured Pompeii, and added that British naval units were approaching Naples and that the battle for the city was becoming fiercer.

According to Algiers radio, battle--y ships were shelling the German posiA tions around the base of Mount • Vesuvius.

* In reference to the Mutual Broad■*easting System’s report saying that I Allied forces are in the suburbs of

VALUE OF FOGGIA STRESSED BY OBSERVERS (Special Correspondent—N.Z.P.A.) Recd. o p.m. London, Sept. 29. There is general endorsement here of President -Roosevelt’s statement tnat the capture of Foggia airfield is one of the most important successes yet achieved by the Allied forces in Italy. Foggia has thirteen airfields lying around it, only 450 miles from Munich, 400 miles from Vienna, and 350 miles from Bolzano, which is just south of the Brenner Pass. The' Daily Telegraph correspondent in North Africa comments: “Thai Field Marshal Kesselring could not de end Foggia is proof that all his available forces are grouped around Naples and that they are insufficient to enable him to tight both of them. He chose to defend Naples despite tne fact that Foggia will provide the Allies not only with bases for the Tactical Air Force but also for the Strategic Air Force, which is brought within easy range of the whole of the Balkans as well as of Austria and Southern Germany.” The correspondent adds that while the Germans are bound to have left extensive mining demolitions the airfields can be put into operational order within two or three days. The Daily Telegraph in an editorial comments that possession of Foggia suggests that Allied reinforcements have been pouring in through Taranto and Brindisi, and possibly Bari. The News-Chronicle’s military correspondent considers the fall of Foggia “a great triumph,” but suggests that time will ne required to build up an organisation for bombing fleets and amassing stores of spares and accessories, in addition to a supply of fuel, and bombs. The correspondent adds: ’‘The occupation of Foggia should prove a decisive factor which will vastly accelerate the completion of Allied operations in Italy. With Foggia in our hands the fall of Naples is bound to follow socn.” Foggia’s bases, of course, provide fighter cover as far as Rome. The Daily Express correspondent, Alan Moorhead, states that a sudden vast change has overtaken the area behind the battle-front in Italy. The Italians, who greatly outnumber the British ana Americans, are beginning to administer the country for the Allies.

“Just as though there had never been such a thing* as the Axis, they are starting to man roads, railways, ports and military encampments. We have instructions not to treat this as occupied territory but the country ot a freindly ally. The King and Badoglio are setting up entirely new Government on Italian soil. In the astonishingly short space of one fortnight the Italians, without any notable exceptions. are turning their guns round on their former Allies ” NAZIS CHASED IN STREETS OF FOGGIA Recd. 11 p.m. London, Sept. 30. Reuter’s correspondent with the Erghth Army says a wild west drama was enacted in Foggia on Tuesday w’hen five German parachutist engineers, in two cars loaded with explosives, drove into the town to carry out a few' final demolitions, not know- , ing that the town was already occupied by British forces. Many British infantrymen were cooking their evening meal on the pavement over petrol fires. “They look like Germans,” says one, as the cars passed. A shot rang out. Same shouted: “They are Germans!” Then began a wild chase through the town. One car crashed into the ruins of the former Fascist headquarters when the driver was hit. The second car crashed into a lamppost as British officers, shooting from window*, picked off the driver, lhe only other casualty was an Italian civilian killed by a burst from a German sub-machine-gun.