GERMANS FALL BACK

Waikato Times, Volume 132, Issue 22155, 29 September 1943, Page 3

GERMANS FALL BACK

ALLIES LAND NEW FORCES ENEMY WITHDRAWAL LIKELY (Received Sept. 29, noon) LONDON, Sept. 28 . Morley Richards, the Daily Express military writer, says that the Germans are falling back on the hills north of Salerno to avoid being outflanked by the Eighth Army. The desperate defence of the mountainous approaches to Naples is not an attempt to hold the city but is planned to give the main German forces time to escape the Eighth Army’s clutches. As the Eighth Army moves in the chain of airfields around Foggia will add greatly to the weight of the attack on tne enemy rear. Some military observers in London believe that the Germans may soon withdraw the whole of their forces from southern and central Italy and man the River Po defences. Today’s German communique says the British and Americans have landed new forces in Southern Italy and their pressure has increased considerably. “According to Plan” The communique claims that German troops in the Foggia area have been di?engaged according to plan and withdrew to prepared mountain positions. Foggia was evacuated after the destruction of all important war communications, adds the communique. The Berlin radio’s version of the evacuation of Foggia says that the German rearguards attacked the British in the forefield of the town from the front and from the flanks. The British suffered considerable casualties during a day of fierce fighting, in which their advance was completely stopped. The evacuated ground has been thoroughly mined.