The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-12-23
The War On
 Many Fronts

The invasion coast of northern France underwent ceaseeless British bombing today while hard-hitting Allied armies buckled Germany's winter defense lines in furious fight ing on the Italian and Russian bat tie fronts.
 Waves of RAF heavy bombers swept across the Straits of Dover shortly after dusk last night to heap tons of explosives on the Pas De Calais area, and fast medium bomb CTS followed through today in their fourth straight day of sustained at tack on that area.
 Observers along the English chan mel coast reported the night assault was the heaviest witnessed since 194O when the Royal Air force wrecked German preparations for an invasion of Britain.
 There was no official explanation for the terrific crosS-channel bomb ing, but some observers believed the unnamed targets might have been the mysterious rocket guns which Swedish and Swiss reports said were being emplaced in the Pas De Calais area in preparation for 8 lombard ment of England.
 One Swiss report said the rockets whose efficacy was doubted in Bri- tish military quarters--was 5O-ton shell containing 10 tons of explo- SiveS.
 British Raiders
 Other British raiders attacked un- identified targets in western Ger many during the night after Amer ican heavy bombers and fighters had raided the northwest Reich by daylight, shooting down B enemy planes at cost of q bombers and four fighters.
 On the Italian front, Canadian shock troops fought their way through the streets of Ortona, coast al anchor of the Germans Adriatic line, and late dispatches indicated that virtually all the town was in Allied hands today after one of the bitterest battles of the campaign.
 The Nazi high command threw paratroops into the bloody struggle in desperate but unsuccessful at tempt to halt the steady advance of Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomerys 8th army veterans.
 adian troopers, stalking through Ortona behind spearhead of tanks, cleaned out the enemy in house toulouse fighting that liter ally wrecked the coastal town.
 Battle Of Ortona
 As the battle of Ortona ragged to- ward a climax, Indian units of the Eighth Army ground back the in- land sector of the German left flank while French and American Fifth Army troops edged forward through the central mountains in a two-pronged threat to Casino, a vital junction town on the main road to Rome.
 The Americans captured the B. O0O-foot Mount Cavallo, 3 1-2 miles north of Venafro, and another height overlooking the Rome road, while French infantrymen scored unspecified gains on the American right wing.
 Bad weather hampered aerial ac- tivity over the Italian front, but RAF bombers pounded German strong points near the Adriotic coast and fighter bombers machine gunned enemy gun positions ana road transport ahead of the Eigth Army.
 On the long Russian battle line, the Germans mounted four power full counter attacks on 5O0-mile front stretching down from White Russia to the northern half of the Dnieper Bend in an apparent effort to tip the SovietS off balance be- fore they could launch general winter offensive all along the front.
 Reds Hold
 Despite the weight of the German thrust, however, Moscow reported that it's forces held their ground on all sectors and improved their posi- tions on two of the four fronts at tackled.
 Almost 4,OOO Germans were killed and 135 tanks knocked out in the futile counter attack yesterday, about 2,OOO of the enemy dying on the approaches to Vitebsk. Russia's First Baltic Army beat of 16 separ- ate German counter-t -thrusts in that sector and continued to advance on Vitebsk, key junction town on the Odessa -Leningrad railway.
 London reports said the main Na1 defense guarding Vitebsk al- ready had been preached and that the Soviets were within 12 miles of the town.
 The Germans sent up heavy tank and infantry endorsements in an attempt to halt a Russian drive on zhlobin, but nearly half their armor was destroyed and 800 men killed without bunting the Soviet spear head. At the northwestern tip of the Kiev Ealient, third German counter-drive was beaten back with heavy losses while other NaI at tacks were repulsed around Kirovo- grad, in the Dnieper Bend.
 mendation was made. which his regi- ment considers record. He wouldn't