Article on Italian front
Title
Article on Italian front
Description
Mentions German defences across Liri valley and advancing allied tanks towards Acquino and Pontecorvo. mentions Polish troops and mopping up Germans at Cassino and other news from Italy.
Language
Type
Format
One newspaper cutting
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
SValentineJRM1251404v10111
Transcription
Continuous wire
Interpretation of aerial photographs reveals that there are more than 200 large bunkers and about 70 pillboxes and minor concrete works in that section of the line extending across the Liri Valley
There is a continuous line of wire and about two miles of anti-tank ditches which join up with natural obstacles such as the deep water-courses intersecting the plain.
In addition the Germans have demolished all houses in the area to provide a clear field of fire.
Tanks are racing up and troops rushing forward at top speed for the final assault on this second of the defence lines which the Germans have constructed in Italy.
The tanks are moving towards Acquino and Pontecorvo.
Polish troops are approximately a mile and a half from Piedimonte, which is just north of the road to Rome and is the linchpin of the Adolf Hitler Line.
Seventeen miles on
They are mopping up scattered groups of Germans from the Monastery and Cassino [sic] who are still resisting with mortars and spandaus among the mountains.
The French have advanced some 17 miles since the present offensive began and have occupied Monticelli and the 4,000ft. high Mount Fuggeto, overlooking the Itri to Pico road.
The speed of the advance along the coast, coupled with the difficult terrain has meant that some forward troops have been supplied by air.
Smoking out snipers
Formia, on the Gulf of Gaeta, has fallen, but snipers were being smoked out while patrols pushed along the coastal road beyond the western exits of the town, pursuing the retreating enemy, burdened with loot from Italian homes.
Tonight comes the news that the ancient fortress of Gaeta on its cape, south of captured Formia, is burning – set on fire by the Germans as they fell back to the Hitler Line.
The Americans have passed Formia and fanned out north and south. They have the important Itri-Pico lateral road under fire and are poised to strike at Itri.
Interpretation of aerial photographs reveals that there are more than 200 large bunkers and about 70 pillboxes and minor concrete works in that section of the line extending across the Liri Valley
There is a continuous line of wire and about two miles of anti-tank ditches which join up with natural obstacles such as the deep water-courses intersecting the plain.
In addition the Germans have demolished all houses in the area to provide a clear field of fire.
Tanks are racing up and troops rushing forward at top speed for the final assault on this second of the defence lines which the Germans have constructed in Italy.
The tanks are moving towards Acquino and Pontecorvo.
Polish troops are approximately a mile and a half from Piedimonte, which is just north of the road to Rome and is the linchpin of the Adolf Hitler Line.
Seventeen miles on
They are mopping up scattered groups of Germans from the Monastery and Cassino [sic] who are still resisting with mortars and spandaus among the mountains.
The French have advanced some 17 miles since the present offensive began and have occupied Monticelli and the 4,000ft. high Mount Fuggeto, overlooking the Itri to Pico road.
The speed of the advance along the coast, coupled with the difficult terrain has meant that some forward troops have been supplied by air.
Smoking out snipers
Formia, on the Gulf of Gaeta, has fallen, but snipers were being smoked out while patrols pushed along the coastal road beyond the western exits of the town, pursuing the retreating enemy, burdened with loot from Italian homes.
Tonight comes the news that the ancient fortress of Gaeta on its cape, south of captured Formia, is burning – set on fire by the Germans as they fell back to the Hitler Line.
The Americans have passed Formia and fanned out north and south. They have the important Itri-Pico lateral road under fire and are poised to strike at Itri.
Citation
“Article on Italian front,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 24, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/22097.
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