ALLIES IN ITALY

Waikato Times, Volume 193, Issue 22203, 24 November 1943, Page 3

ALLIES IN ITALY

HEAVY GUNS ACTIVE GREAT AIR BOMBING (United Press Assn.—Elee. T«i. Copyright) (Received Nov. 24, 11.40 a.m.) LONDON, Nov. 23 The gradually improving weather in Italy has seen an intensification of the battle in the past 24 hours, with frequent patrol clashes, heavy artillery exchanges and increasing air activity from coast to coast. According to the Algiers radio the Eighth Army has captured Castel di Sangro and Alledena, but this is not confirmed. The latest reports from the front say that the Eighth Army’s left flank has considerably tightened its grip on the German defences in the upper Sangro mountains and is advancing slowly on the road to Avezzano. The Eighth Army forces south-west of Alfedena have wrested further ground from the Germans, who are determinedly resisting. A numerically superior German force north-west of Agone yesterday heavily attacked light Canadian forces. The battle went on for two hours before the Germans withdrew to their old positions. What is officially described as a fair amount of gun movement has been observed south-west of Mignano.

The situation is static in the Fifth Army’s coast sector, though German patrols are operating in greater numbers on the upper Garigliano. All-day Bombing

The Allied front-line troops have been heartened by all-day bomb bursts, fires and explosions in the German positions. The Allied Air Forces on the Eighth Army front harried the Germans on a scale not previously seen in Italy. Wave after wave of bombers and fighter bombers blasted enemy gun positions and strong points on the north bank of the Sangro river.