The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-09-17

of the 26-mile Salerno Bay front
but the speed Of Montgomery's ad-
vance recently indicated that his
main forces would soon be on the
battle line.
Anticipate Attack
The Germans obviously were pre-
pairing for attack from the south.
They have been forced out Of the
area around Albanella and between
the rivers Sele and Colore, which
left their Southern flank weak to
mete Montgomery's attack. If the
5th Army, strongly reinforced, Is
able to exploit this situation, the
Germans may decide to swing their
southern forces northward toward
the hills to form straight line
front instead of the present arc
which the Allies can attack both
from the Salerno bridgehead and
from the south.
The enemy, having lost heavily IN
men and prestige In failing to
smash the Allied bridgehead, prob
ably has already started or COM
pleted the main part Of this opera
ton and the line may be straight
ened out at any time.
The Nazis got much more than
they expected when they made
counter attacks yesterday, presum-
ably to protect their withdrawal
maneuver. One counter-thrust was
in the Salerno area where British
troops and American picked units
repulsed the Germans and held their
grip on the town, which was under
fire from German SO guns in the
hills
Gave No Ground
The other two came In the Monte
corvino sector where the Allies strong
fire power turned back thrusts from
high ground and apparently eX-
hausted the enemy. The Allies gave
no ground at Montecorvino, an i'm
portant airdrome which Is about 10
miles southeast Of Salerno on the
central sector of the front,
The 5th army again was support
ed by a tremendous Allied aerial
cover hat hammered German
troops, road functions, barracks and
transport throughout the Salerno-
Naples area with every type of air.
plane, flying more than 1000 sorties
for the third straight day. The
three-day total of more than 5000
sorties was the greatest protracted
aerial assault ever made IN support
of ground troops.
The Allied recovery was made
after the German counter offensive
had forced the Americans back at
one time to within three miles OF
the beaches on the central Salerno
sector. But today a new front about
225 miles long from the Bari sector
to Salerno was being rapidly formed,
Reinforced by shiploads of fresh
troops and untold quantities OF
tanks and guns, the Fifth army
switched to the offensive yesterday
and smashed forward under a cur
tain of shells and bombs from sup
porting warshipS and planes.
Yard by yard, the Germans were
driven back from the wedges they
had hammered in the Allied line In
futile attempt to drive the invad-
ers back into the sea. Three coun-
ter-attacks were repulsed with COM
parative ease and prisoners were
taken.
AIbaneIla Falls
Albanella, about % miles south.
east of Salerno, fell to the advanc-
ing Allies and Altavilla was expected
to be re-occupied within a matter
of hours. Both were seized by the
British and the Americans in the
early hours of the week-old invasion
but yielded in the face of the heav'
lest German counter-attacks In the
western European or Mediterranean
theaters since 1910.
General Sir Harold r. ]. q. Alex.
ander, commander Of all Allied
ground forces In the Mediterranean
area, toured the salerno Bay area
with Clark yesterday and congratu-
lated the Fifth Army on a magni-
icent Job Of work" He viewed the
enemy positions from high ground
only q few hundred yards from
enemy guns In the hills.
1T was q highly successful land
ing, opposed strongly by Germans IN
position with tanks and guns 200
yards from the sea-" Alexander told
q war correspondent. Now we are
pouring our troops. tanks and guns
into the brldgehead."
General Dwight p. Eisenh0weT's
communlque reflected the growing
optimism with an assertion that the
Fifth Army'a hFldseleads had been
snrmlg osiabfIsfed ~ the end