Evening star., 1943-12-03
Clurk's Forces in
Greatest Drive
Since SuIerno
By the Associated Press.

giers, Dec. 3.-Lt. Gen. Mark w
Clark's 5th Army troops
launching the greatest Allied
offensive since the landing at
Salerno, have advanced through
machine gun raked fields and
barbed wire in the Calabritto
area in the wake Of a heavy
barrage of artillery shells and
aerial bombs, Allied headquar-
ters announced today.
The British 9th Army also con-
tinued to smash the Germans back
beyond the Sangro Ridge and cap
tured Castel Frentano, on a lateral
road west of the important German
defense town of Lanciano, and
pushet on toward San Vito, on the
Adiatic coast, 6 miles beyond We'd
nesday's line. But Gen. Sir Bernard
l.. Montgomery's drive showed signs
Of slowing down.
Both the 5th and 9th Armies took
prisoners in their advance.
The air force reported heavy at
tacks around San Giorgio, Rocca
and Cervano on the 5th Army front.
where the Germans were said to
have mounted guns on every stra-
tegic height around the road to
Rome"
Allied air attacks were the heaviest
in many days, and II German planes
were destroyed. against a loss OF
eight Allied planes.
Brenner Pass Town Pounded.
A force Of Liberators, escorted by
Lightnlngs, pounded Bolzano, on the
Brenner Pass line in Northern Italy
while the British deStroyers Queens
borough and Raider bombarded Naz
installations in the Albanian port o1
Durazzo at night.
The Liberators and Lightnings
were engaged by strong formations
OF ME-l09s and F'W-190s and shot
down four for loss of three.
Pilots flying over The 5th Army
battle area reported "..crce fighting
and great clouds of dust rising over
large areas enveloped by battle.
Calabrltto, which Is miles south
west OF Mignano at the strongest
part OF the German line defending
the main road to Rome, was the
scene of the heaviest Sth Army fight
ing and reports were extremely re-
served on how far Gen. Clark's army
had progressed.
The Germans made a particularly
determined effort to halt the 9Th
Army in the Lanciano area, where
they held a 900-foot ridge which
dominates the surrounding country
The Germans were reported yester-
day rushing reserves from Northern
italy in an attempt to stem the
drive.
Front-line advices said the Ger
mans were trying to use crowds Of
refugees to block and hamper the
Allied advance. They were reported
to be taking the populations o.
small towns and driving them out
toward the advancing 5th and 8tt
Armies, then blowing up bridges be.
hind them in an attempt to create
conditions similar to those in France
during the Nazi blitz.
Front-line dispatches said the 5ti
Army's stab was the biggest Alice
offensive since the landing at Sa.
lerno, but the Germans were fighting
flercely on every section of the front
and numerous minefields and heavy
demolitions were being encountered
Gen. Clark came under fire fol-
some time yesterday during a tour
Of the battle front, half q. dozen
shells falling near where he was
standing.
800 Aerial Sorties.
P-40 Warhawks and ABS dive
bomoers few some 300 sorties along
a 20-mile section of the front and
dropped more than 100 tons of high
explosives as well as hundreds OF
augmentation bombs on the German
positions before the lurch forward OF
the 5th Army.
The results were so DEVASTATING
that the last of the returning P-4(
pilots said they encountered almost
no anti-aircraft fire, apparently be-
cause the Germans were desertine
their guns.
A German attempt to use scuttlee
French Fleet units at Toulon wa!
thWarted in the American heavy.
bomber raid on that big base No.
vember "a, with at least five re.
f1oated warships sunk and fiv,
smaller ones probaly sunk in lone O.
the most severe blows ever dealt {
naval base by air attack" the 15tf
Air Force disclosed last night on tn,
basis OF new photo reconnaissance.
American and British air attacks
yesterday stretched from Marseille
where U-boat pens were bombed by
Flying Fortresses for the first time