EIGHTH ARMY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 276, 22 November 1943, Page 5

EIGHTH ARMY

ADVANCE ON SANGRO SUCCESSFUL PATROL ACTIONS

Recd. 8 p m. Rugby, Nov. 20. An Algiers communique states that Eighth Army troops mulcted heavy casualties on the enemy in several successful patrol actions. There was hard fighting in one sector, where our troops captured a village. Enemy artillery is again in action on the Fifth Army front, especially the inland zone, where our troops Improved their positior.s. Bad weather continues and air activity yesterday was strictly limited by tne weather. Railway targets and motor transport were destroyed and damaged by lighters and fighter-bombers north of the Italian battlefront and near Matkovie, Yugoslavia. On Thursday night our bombers made an armed reconnaissance, bombing road targets and buildings at Lanclano. Two enemy planes were destroyed. Three of ours are missing. New positions seized by the Eighth Army north of Atessa and around Archi, according to Algiers radio. This gives the Allies new observation posts across the Sangro River. A later message states the Eighth Army captured the last German position south of the Sangro.—B.O.W. POLICY OF DELAY GERMANS IN ITALY DISPOSITIOffcF FORCES Recd. 6 p.m. Rugby, Nov. 19. That the Germans are relying on the, weather and on delaying tactics to hold up the Allied drive up Italy would appear to be evident from the latest reports of the disposition oi their troops in front of the Allien armies. “Although the Eighth Army,’’ says a correspondent at General Alexander's headquarters, “is now on a line north of Rome on the eastern side of the Apennines chain, the enemy is holding the bulk of his troops in front of the Fifth Army, on the western flank. The Eighth Army is now less than 25 miles from Pescara, which is at the northern end of the main lateral road to Rome, and has only the Sangro defensive line between it and the road. “The road from Pescara to Rome winds between some of the highest peaks in the Apennines, with the narrow passes often snowbound. The Germans would thus appear to think that if we burst through the Sangro defences and reach Pescara they will be able to hold the passes with small forces. The enemy has altogether 10 divisions in front of the two armies, and of that number three divisions are recent additions. All three depend largely on horses and mules for transport, and one division, the 65th., which presumably is holding the Sangro defence line, is also poorly equipped.’’ A North Airica Army communique states:—

“In Italy the weather conditions have improved slightly, but the rivers and streams are still flooded. Patrol aotivity took place on both the Fifth and Eighth Army fronts. The enemy artillery was active in certain sectors.”

An air communique states: “Eleusis airfield, near Athens, was again attacked yesterday by heavy bombers of the North-west African Air Force, escorted by long-range fighters. Medium bombers attacked Larissa airfield and also railway yards at Grosseto and Terni. Light bombers, fight-er-bombers, and fighters carried out an armed reconnaissance and attacked motor transpot in the battle area. Fighters sank a merchant vessel and damaged two others in the Kerka River, in Yugoslavia. Light bombers carried out. an armed reconnaissance in the vicinity of Ascoli and Aquila and the battle area. One enemy aircraft was destroyed. Two of ours are missing.”

The Germans are continuing to carry out their scorched earth policy in front of the Eighth Army, writes a war correspondent, by setting villages abtaz-a in no man’s land. Our patrols frequently come upon the smouldering ruins of what were once little mountain villages. The most recent instance was the destruction of the small town of San Pietro, in the Sangro Valley east of Castel di Sangro. Yesterday the enemy was cleared out of a few positions which he retained on the southern bank of the Sangro. where he had a battery of field guns and some self-propelled guns with which he had been able to shell our positions.—B.O.W. FASCIST ARCHIVES LARGELY DESTROYED Recd. 6 p.m. ' New York, Nov. 19. Italians who were in Rome until the armistice disclosed that a large part of the Fascist archives have been burned and many carried off to Germany, reports the Naples correspondent of the New York Times. His informant, who was in the Chigi palace on the night that the Grand Council ousted Mussolini, said that a number of high officials spent hours burning documents. Signor Farinacci, former secretary of the Fascist Party, and many other leaders are reported to have obtained possession of their own dossiers, which were held in police headquarters. Marshal Badoglio and King Victor Emmanpel are blamed for the loss of the documents, since they had free access to them for seven weeks and let them slip out of their hands. This means that much that future generations ought to know about Fascism and its leaders will never be revealed.