Evening star., 1943-11-12
BY L. s. b. SHAPIRO,
War Correspondent Of the Montreal
Gazette.

- Gazette.
At about 9 am. on September IA
the Germans renewed their counter
attack But by this time the waver-
ing Allied lines had been bolstered
at its weakest points.
BY this time, too. the biggest, most
violent, most concentrated air and
naval bombaNment ever mounted
In close support of land force had
swung into full operation. The re-
suit was breathtaking. The sight Of
our planes-their roar, the crash of
their bombs upon nearby enemy
lines-these things acted as a tonic
to our careworn troops. I noted
more than one look up into the
churning air under a cloudless sky
and murmur, thank God for the
air force"
At Al pm. 1t. Gen. Mark w. Clark
studied the battle report. Ger
man attacks were losing momentum.
Our troops were steadying. The
enemy's concentration area in the
Battipaglia- -Eboli- -Altavilla triangle
was being eaten away, yard by yard,
by our naval and air bombar dment.
We had virtual domination of the
skies.
Sensing the return of the initia-
tive, Gen. Clark ordered a British
armored division ashore plus more
American units. He could now af-
ford to clog the roads and fields.
His sensitive feel of the battlefield
bade him prepare for the attack
Though his battle map could not
prove 1t, he knew the crisis was
over.
Clark Smiles.
That evening, for the first time in
three days, I saw Gen. Clark smile
There was good reason for the gen.
erals smile. He hade regained COM
plete control of the situation. His
recovery moves were working like
clockwork-on land, in the air, and
at sea.
On the night of the 14th, I stood
beside a country road two miles
behind the Albanella front. Fresh
American troops were moving up in
single file. They whistled, looked
cocky. Tanks were moving with
them-dozens of Shermans rum
bling to the front. There is nothing
SO cheering to infantry than to see
tanks rolling forward to the front
line. This night they were seeing
more tanks than they had ever seen
before.
Shortly after midnight, our sea
power again swung into terrify-
ing action.
At dawn of the 18th, the enemy
was trying to break off contact.
On the morning of the 18th, Gen.
Sir Harold Alexander, commander
Of the 18th Army Group, arrived in
the bridgehead by destroyer. I was
summoned to Gen. Clark's tent to
represent the Allied press.
For two hours Gems. Alexander
and Clark moved along the battle
line. They crawled up hills, looked
down on enemy positions only a
few hundred yards distant. When
they returned to headquarters, they
gave me a very brief statement. Gen.
Alexander uttered it in his quiet,
matter fact, rather impatient
manner.
Landing Successful.
We'll, how shall we put it?" he
mused. LET me see. It was a
highly successful landing, opposed
strongly by the Germans in position
with tanks and guns 200 yards from
the sea. They were pushed right
back to the foot of the high noun
tains. 1t was a magnificent job of
work-simply magnificent"
Then he thought for a moment.
A smile flickered momentarily on
his lips. And now," he said with
flnality," now we are pouring our
troops, tanks and guns into the
bridgehead. That's about it,
Late that afternoon one of Gen.
Clark's aides strobe triumphantly
into the press hut. He looked
around, smiled, spoke rapidly to us.
rushed to my typewriter, tapped
out story knew the outside world
was waiting for-breathlessly.
Fifth Army, Salerno Area, Sep
tember 15-For the first time since
the Allied landing in Salerno Bay
the Germans today failed to mount
a substantial counterattack. They
gave some indication that they are
making limited withdrawal from
the salient they drove into the AL
lied bridgehead on Monday night
and Tuesday morning. y"
Clark Asks Advice.
On the morning of the 18th, Gen.
Clark draped his lanky frame over
a ridiculously small chair in the
confined quarters of his caravan
He fingered a single sheet of paper
and his tired eyes regarded its let