ALLIES PRESSING ON

Waikato Times, Volume 132, Issue 22093, 17 July 1943, Page 5

ALLIES PRESSING ON

STRONG GERMAN FORCE MET LONDON, July 16 The Axis command is reported to be throwing in the only German units in Sicily to stiffen resistance to the Allied threat on the Catania Plain, but in spite of all the enemy’s efforts the Allied troops nave continued to auvance ana have made considerable gains. An Algiers radio report that the Allies were storming the city of Catania was premature. The fate of Lentim and Carlentini, whose capture was reported earlier, is still doubtful. Spearheads of the Eighth Army advancing on Dentini encountered the outposts of a powerful German force apparently drawn up across the* Lentini bottleneck guarding the entrance to the Catania Plain, says Reuter’s correspondent at Allied headquarters. Tne bottleneck northward of Lentini is a four miles wide strip of land between Lentini and the Lake Carlentini marshes, which run to the sea. The major highway to Catania strikes across the - centre of this neck. The Germans are deploying in the vicinity of the bottleneck in ever-increasing strength, hoping to check the Eighth Army’s advance and to remove the threat the Catania Plain, with its chain of air bases, as well as to Catania city. United States forces pushing up I wooded valleys from Gela into the hilly country are also meeting increased resistance, says the British United Press correspondent. Axis forces defending the area are trying to ward off Allied thrusts which are likely to cut communications running from south-east to north-west. The aerodrome at Biscari, 12 miles east of Gela, has been captured by the Americans. Enemy forces are reported to be massing on the Americans’ extreme left flank. The Algiers radio says the American forces are now 20 miles north of Comiso. British and American airborne forces have made further landings and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy, especially In the Augusta area, where an Axis counter-attack was launched and lasted less than two hours. Allied troops in the south are fighting in the hills north of Ragusa. Battle for Bottleneck The battle for the Lentini bottleneck, the gateway to the Catania Plain, is in full swing, says a report from Algiers. More Allied paratroops and airborne troops have been dropped to reinforce those already fighting behind the Axis forces deployed on the plain behind the bottleneck. The German radio stated that | whole districts of Catania were; ablaze following Allied sea and air j bombardments on Tuesday and Wed- ! nesday. Petrol and oil installations I are still smouldering. Battleships, cruisers, aircraft-carriers and smaller units are hammering selected points in support of the ground forces. The Americans are reported to have captured Campobello, about 12 miles north of Licata. The Allies now hold more than 1000 square miles, which is oneeighth of Sicily. Berlin states that a new convoy of 46 merchant ships has reached Gibraltar and is preparing to leave for the Mediterranean.