The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-09-13
THE WAR ON
 MANY FRONTS.
(RY United Preasl

Lieutenant General Mark Clark's Allied Evolutionary Force was fight southern approaches of Naples, the course of which may determine how ing a crucial battle today on the much of Italy the Germans will choose to defend.
 The American Fifth Army and its supporting British clements were entrenched firmly in the Maple beachhead. But they were meeting intense German resistance which made 1t increasingly clear that the invasion of Central Italy had been no walkover.
 Very heavy fighting continues in the area of the Fifth Army at Sa- lerno," General Dwight D. EiSen- hower's communique said.
 To the south, British armies swung steadily through the foot" of Italy with an ease that indicated the Germans had written of that area. Where they would attempt to establish line across the Peninsula was an issue which might be settled by the battle below Naples.
 A 30-mile British advance along the sole of the Italian boot carried the Eighth Army vanguard through Crotone, seaport of 9,700 population lying just outside the Gulf of Tar anto. The Irnperials found virtually no opposition in their push from Catanzaro, which fell 24 hours earlier.
 Beyond the Eighth Army, the British force which seized Taranto had thrust eastward and Topped of the "heel" of Italy, capturing Brin- disi on the Adriatic coast. F
 Except for the actual battle zones the situation in Italy still was ob- scure, though somewhat clarified by weekend developments. The north ern section appeared to be yielding groudgingly to overwhelming Ger man occupation Sorces.
 Martial Law Declared
 Marshal Albert Kesselring, the 'Nazt commander in whatever parts of central and southern Italy the Germans could command, declared martial law in an effort to browbeat the Italians.
 The Nazis reported that their parachute troops had snatched Beni ito Mussolini from custody and 1t appeared they might set him up as head of the Fascist National gov ernment in North Italy.
 The number of Italian warships in Allied hands increased to at least 43 with the arrival at Malta of three more destroyers and an undetermin- ed number of submarines. Although the tally still was incomplete, enough of the fleet had been &C., counted fo rto make 1t plain that the Germans had been deprived of the most important ships.
 On the Russian front, the Red Army posed a direct threat to Bry- ansk, the big German held base an- choring the lower end of the central front. At the same time Soviet forces swept on toward the Dnieper river and gave every sign that they would reach it on a broad front. Bryansk already was outfianked to the north and south.
 VI IiAc EdC11LC 4TOnC, AXIS raQlOS reported today that American bomberS had hit at the Kurile Is- lands on the northern approaches to Japan itself for the third time.
 The report coincided with new gains in the southwest Pacific where Allied forces routed the Japanese and captured Salamaua airdrome and edged into position to assault Lac, strong eemy base on the New Guinea coast.
 Washington did not confirm the Axis reports immediately. A Tokyo dispatch broadcast by Berlin said nie of IS attacking planes were shot down but admitted loss of a Jap anese plane ad damaging of two transports and land installations.
 Seizure of the Salamaua airdrome apparently doomed the remnants of the enemy garrison which had fal- len back into the town itself after it's outer defenses were smashed, with hundreds of casualties.
 Twenty thousand enemy troops were caught in the trap along 50 miles of the New Guinea coast. Salamaua was the first major enemy airbase captured in the Pacific.