Evening star., 1943-12-15
300 u. S. Planes Pound Greece:
Il Nozis Downed in Air Battle;
Co|dori Captured by 9th Army
5th Army Patrols in
Clashes Near Venofro
Weather Improving
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS
Algiers, Dec. 15.-More than 3Ol
American bombers and fighter.
struck Nadi-occupied Greece tn.
greatest Allied blow of the all
war over the Balkans yesterday
and IL German fighters were
doWned in a big aerial battle
Allied headquarters announced
today.
This giant air attack agains
three airfields at Athens and Piraeu.
Harbor came as Canadian and In.
dian troops led an 9Th Army attacl
which captured Caldari, mile.
from Ortona on the Adriatic coast
and cost the Germans 200 prisoners
Canadian troops in a daring nigh
raid on the village Of Berrati, 2 mile!
south Of Ortona, captured the com.
manding officer of the 361st Armoree
Grenadier Division, his adjutant
four other officers and 140 men.
Clashes Near Venafro.
Patrol clashes near VenafrC
marked the 5th Army fighting. A
German prisoner on this sector sale
his commanding officer had tolc
them they were fighting tough wile
men from Texas Among the divi-
sions in the 5th Army line is the
36th, composed largely of Texans
which was the first American divi-
sion to land at Salerno.
Clearing weather enabled the 18th
Air Force to send out big forma
tions.
The great fleet of bombers and
escorting fighters dealt knock
out blow against German Air Force
nests at Elevsis, Kalamaki and Ia
toi, all just outside Athens.
Flying Fortresses delivered the
first blow at Pireaus Harbor, key
Grecian port which was almost de-
stroyed during the early days of the
German invasion of Greece in April
1941.
Thirty-five German fighters
which rose to challenge the waves
of Fortresses, Liberators and their
escorting Lightning P-38s were
brushed aside in blaze of gunfire
which sent II of the Germans
crashing to earth.
Three More Planes Downed.
In other air activity during the
day, three additional German planes
were shot down, bringing the "a
hour bag in this theater to Is,
against an Allied loss of 5, with one
pilot safe.
An Allied officer announced that
two bridgeheads across the Moro
River, forced by the Canadians on
the coast and the Indians farther
inland, now have been merged into
one 1t is about a mile in depth
and miles wide
This bridgehead includes Caldari
The Canadians had replaced the
battle-tires 18th Division. Not con-
tent with steady day attacks, the
aggressive Canadians staged night
raid on Berrati, catching the Nazi
garrison by surprise The Cana
dians retired after the raid on the
night of December II, taking al
equipment of value with them.
Indians Take Caldari.
Indian troops, who are 1ankec
along the coast by the Canadians
and inland by the New Zealand &c
Division, took Caldari against stub
born resistance in their hercest at
tack.
The weather improved on both
the 9Th and 5th Army fronts.
The attacks on the airfeld:
around Athens were the same tao
tics used by the Germans during
their invasion TO knock out the tiny
RAF force then stationed on those
same airdromes.
Over the battle area several hun.
dred sorties were flown by fighters
which also operated over Yugoslavia
Fighter-bombers hit shipping in the
harbor at Civitavecchia, northwest
of Rome, and RAF Bostons bombed
Pontecorvo, in the Venafro area.
Rail Junction Bombed.
B25 Mitchells struck at the rail-
way junction at Orte while Ameri-
can Bostons bombed a bridge over
the flooded Liri River, which has
been the scene of intense fighting
WarhaWks carried out a number of
close support missions.
More than 100 German planes
were over the 5th Armys positions
in one of the greatest days air ac-
tivity since the fighting at Salerno
Three were destroyed and four dam
aged.
Several fierce patrol clashes oc-
Cured on the 5th Army front in the
turbulent sector northwest of Vena-
fro. and number of prisoners were
taken.
Attacks ForeshadOwed.
The resumption of air attack on
a large scale was foreshadowed in
the prediction Sunday of Gen
Henry H. Arnold, chief of United
States Air Forces, that terrible
blows were in prospect for Ger
many and her satellites in the
Balkans.
The largest blow against the Bal
kans until yesterday was that of 1T
Liberators sent against the Ploesti
(Rumania) oil fields from the
middle east August /. Yesterday
was the first time four targets in
Greece had been hit simultaneously
Especially significant was the raid
on Piraeus, for it meant that after
more than two and a half years the
Germans finally have been able to
repair the big port which feeds mu-
nitionS to their forces in the Aegean
island outposts, such as the Dodec-
anese and Crete.
Port Had Been Destroyed.
On the first day of the German
invasion of Greece the Nazis bombed
the port ana hit a 10,000-ton British
ship loaded with TINT. The explo-
sion sank % Greek and Allied ships
and wrecked the harbor installa-
tions.
What little was left in the port
was destroyed a few weeks later
when Bulgarian munitions ship,
being used by the Germans, ex-
ploded in the harbor, sinking four
more ShiDS