Evening star., 1943-09-20
Big Italian PORT
Within Range
OF Artillery
lnlond Forces Coin:
Corsica Expected
To Fall Shortly
BY the Associated Pres.

bS tne Associated Press.
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS nv
NORTH AFRICA, Sept. 20.-The
American 5th Army has seized
control Of the south side Of the
Bay of Naples by capturing all
the commanding heights Of Sor-s1
rento Peninsula, Allied head I
quarters announced today. =
Already padlockeA on the seaward
side by the occupation Of the Islands
Of Capri, Ischia and Procida on
either side of the bay, Italy's second
largest port thereby came under tbs
gaze of Allied soldiers across II
miles Of water and within range or
Long Tom" artillery
Easily within artillery range alsoss
were the Italian naval base OF Cas-
tellammare, recently bombarded BY
the British Navy, and the key rail-
way town of Tore Annunziata, botl,
In the lower elbow OF the bay. ve-ss
suvius is only 10 miles from the
Allied mountain positions
Other Units Drive On.
While troops occupied the penin.
sula stretching 20 miles west Off
Salerno, other units of the 5th Army
slashed eastward and northward
from their Salerno beachhead In
the Montecorvino and Battipaglia
sectors where the Germans appaf.
emily were making a full-scale re.
treat under a merciless air lashine
reminiscent of the days when the.s
British were trying to get out q
Greece under the blows Of the Nazi
Air Force.
An Allied communique ssid the
gains were made against decreasins
enemy resistance" -
The British sth Corps. closing II
from the Italian heel, captured
Gioja. 28 miles from laramie on the
road to Allied held Bari, and a head.
quarters spokesman said the Gers
mans had completed the, evacuation
OF Sardinia, the huge island and ain
base which Mussolini had regarded
as the No. defense outpost of Italy.
(The. German high. command !.
admitted that Sardinia had been
given np)
With the capture of Sardinia by
italian troops acting under orderas
Of Premier Marshal Pietro Badoglio,
the position of the Germans in Cor.
sica, only seven miles to the north,
apparently became untenable and
the Allied gained the potential use.
of 10 air fields from which to press
attacks on Northern Italy and
Southern France. The quick fall oie
Corsica was expected. r.
Naples State Of Siege Reported.
1t was not likely that much usss
was being made of Sardinia by AL.
lied forces as yet. however, because
of the flood tide of operations on the
mainland now beating against Ma.
piles.
GA Morocco radio broadcast
said the German commander had
ordered a State Of siege in the :
Naples areaD
The air force reported that Amer
lean ASS Invaders attacked o.
column of 1900 German vehicles
travelling northward from Contursi,
10 miles east Of Eboli facing thss
bridgehead, and destroyed or dam
aged 246 of them.
The A-36s roamed at will, un-S
molsted by enemy fighters.
They were joined in the sweeps.
over the retreating enemy by Ameri-
can Warhawks and Raj Killy Hawk
bombers. Pilots found considerable.
traffic congestion at the junction
Of four roads II miles northeast of
Eboli, and they made concentrated
attack on Pescopagano as well as
on the arterial roads entering it.
Bridge Approaches Bombed.
RAF and RCAF Wellingtons OF
the strategic air force made heavy.
attack last night on the approaches
(See ITALY, Page A-l4).