MILE FORWARD

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 88, Issue 6, 8 January 1944, Page 5

MILE FORWARD

FIFTH ARMY ADVANCE BATTLE IN BLIZZARD <By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright! Recd. 7 p.m. London, Jan. 6. A drive by the Fifth Army against the Germans defending the main road to Cassino and Rome has already brought them an advance of about a mile in depth over a 10-mile front. They flung the Germans out of mountain positions on each side of the road. • British and American troops went forward together at dawn yesterday. They are making for the stronghold of ; Cassino, now a matter of five miles ; away, where the Rome road and raili way meet. i A key-point on this battle front is j the mountain village of San Vittore. [ The Americans have burst into it and [some grim fighting is going on. The i troops went into action in a blizzard of snow. The Germans tried to make San Vittore a small-scale Ortona. They fortified every house, and are defending every one to the last, yet by nightfall the Americans had taken half the village. Devastating Allied artillery fire is* to-night raking that half of San Vittore which is still in Germans hands, says Reuter’s rorrespondent at Allied headquarters. He adds that the Americans are preparing to sweep in to complete th? capture of this mountain village. Crushing pressure is being maintained along the Fifth Army's 10-mile fighting front. A series of British and American hammer blows with powerful artillery support is pushing the Germans back. The Allied * spearheads at some ponts have dug more than a mile into the German positions. One wedge is threatening to outflank Cassino and is slowly creeping forward in the mountains west ot Venafro. Other British forces which are attacking in the southern sector near the bend of the Gargliano River captured about 50 German prisoners. The Fifth Army began its new attack in the face of a violent storm of sleet and rain on a front extending five miles on either side of the Rome road from a point westward of Venafro to a point west of Rocca. advance of one mile mentioned in the Algiers communique was made in the face of stiff opposition. American troops entered San Vittore in darkness on Wednesday night, and fierce fighting is still going on in the village, half of which has been captured. San Vittore is the key to the German defences at Cassino and the entrance to the Liri valley.

A correspondent of the British United Press says that the Fifth Army began its drive supported by an extremely heavy barrage and bombing and strafing from the air. A combined group of Canadians and Americans made out of the most important advances through difficult snowcapped mountain terrain. They captured another mountain peak, making three peaks captured in two days. Canadians of the Eighth Army captured a hill three miles beyond Ortona. They are now overloking a coastal village eight miles distant on the road to Pescara. Fierce fighting continues in this coastal sector, whera infantry are clearing out enemy nests south of the Foro River.

Invader fighter-bombers attacking in the Ceivero area yesterday used new tactics Instead of dive-bombing, they roared through narrow valleys as close to the ground as possible, gunning the German positions at 300 mil-ei an hour.