A LITTLE LIVELIER

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 88, Issue 59, 10 March 1944, Page 5

A LITTLE LIVELIER

LATEST NEWS FROM ITALY. (11 p.m.) London. March 9. Things were a little livelier on the Allied beachhead in Italy yesterday, otherwise it was a quiet day. Two small enemy attacks on the beachhead were beaten hack. There was patrol activity on all fronts. In all. Allied Air Forces flew on some 900 sorties yesterday. Figures reveal that the Germans have lost 7500 killed and wounded on the Cassino front, and 1500 captured. London, March 8. New Zealand gunners last night shelled a railway station a mile south of Cassino, marking the limit of the last American attempts to break through to the liri Valley, says Reuter's correspondent at Allied headquarters. Flooded rivers in the Cassino sector are subsiding, but boggy ground continues to immobilise aircraft and heavy vehicles. German military commentators forecast an Allied offensive soon from the Anzio beachhead. Berlin radio said: “An attack by strongly reinforced sth. Army troops can be expected within a few days.” A German news agency spokesman said: “Judging from - considerable movement behind the Allied lines, an offensive will be launched very soon.”

Considerable German movement ar. along the Anzio beach-head front indicates that the 14th Army under General von Mackensen may be regrouping and preparing for a fourth attempt to push the Allies into the sea, reports a correspondent at Algiers. This preparation and reinforcement of men and materials as the enemy brings his ten beachhead divisions to full strength is the main German activity at the moment. The Germans continue their fighting and reconnaissance patrols, and once again they tried to infiltrate the British lines south-west of Carricetto, but again were thrown out by swift, determined jabs by British counter patrols.