The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-12-16
The Wor On
Many Fronts
BY UNITED PRESS

nI UNIFIED EkSrb
Tank-led advances by Anglo
American ground forces and a
smashing American aerial blow at
both sides Of the strategic Brenner
Pass supply line put the Allied Of
fensive in italy tNck in full swing
today as Russian armies turned
back the German tide west Of Kiev
and ripped through the Naz lines
in the Dnieper Bend.
Gen. Sir B. nard L. Montgom-
ery's Eighth Army ceterans knocked
the main props out from under the
German defenses along a 15-mile
front below Pescara with sudden
armored thrust into the main en-
envy positions near the Adriatic
coast.
The British swarmed across the
vital Ortona- Guardiagrele lateral
highway at three points and captur-
San Vicenzo Id limited advances
were achieved at several other
points behind a swelling artillery
barrage that battered the enemy's
defenses.
simultaneously, a powerful force
of U. S. Liberators. flying fortresses
and lightning fighters struck a
three-way blow at the main Ger
man supply line running through
the Bremen Pass into northern
Italy.
One formation blasted the viii
lage of Beraldi, Az miles south
of Ortona, Adriatic anchor of
the temporary German line in east
ern Italy. Front reports indicated
the Nazis were putting up stub
born defense, but clearing weather
and hardening ground aided the AL
lied drie V.
On the western flank of the Al
lied line, 1t. Gen. Mark w. Clark's
Anglo-American Fifth Army front
also exploded into action after a
six-day lull imposed by rain and
mud. American tanks and infantry
overran a strategic hill southwest OF
One formation blaSte,. the railway
line at Innsbruck, on the Austrian
side TO the pass, while second hit
Bolzano, on the Italian side, and a
third bombed viaduct across the
f1VlolO 1lNC1, oO AlAlCo oOuVAA VA oO2-
zano, completing day OF destruc-
ton which Allied headquarters said
would make the Breh1c- PISS rail-
road at least tenn Crarily useless
Not single American plane was
lost in the attack.
British-based Raj Mosquito
bombers also were back in action
after a one-night lull, bombing un-
specified targets in western Ger
many.
In Russia, fierce fighting ragged
along a broad front from the mid
die Dnieper to the Kiev salient and
Moscow reported that the Red army
was on the attack everywhere.
A violent See-saw battle ragged
through the hills at the center OF
the Kiev salient, where a German
attempt to resume the offensive ap-
peared to have broken down after a
one-day success that carried the
Nazis back into the important roaC
junction of Radomisl, 48 miles west
of Kiev.
Moscow said Soviet troops hac
smashed a German attempt tC
widen and deepen the break
through around Radomisl and re.
sumed the initiative after battle
in which Russian artillery shot VI
28 enemy tanks on a single sector
in two hours of close quarter fight
ing.
Further south in the Dniepe!
Bend, a surprise Russian thanking
move drove the Nazis from the
Belozerye railway station only foul
miles north of Smela, the main
control point of the German rail-
Way network in the northern hall
of the Bend.
The sudden Soviet thrust ap-
peared to have disorganized the
German defenses and front reports
indicated the Red Army was ex-
pected momentarily to burst into
the outskirts of Smela.
At the same time, two Russian
columns effected juncture between
Kremenchug and Cherkasi, clearing
the Nazis from 67-mile stretch OF
the west bank of the Dnieper river.
The Soviets also improved their
position on the approaches TO
Krivovograd, 81 miles southwest OF
Kremenchug, killing more than l.
800 Germans and capturing or de-
stroying 48 enemy tanks.
Meanwhile, Stockholm reports in
dictated that tension continued to
run high in Bulgaria in the wake OF
the Allied grand strategy confer
ences in the middle east. A special
courier was said to have been dis
patched from the Bulgarian legation
in Ankara to Sofia after meetlng
between Nicolas Balabanov, Bull
garian envoy to Turkey, and Turk
ish President Ismet Inonu.
The reports revived speculation
that Turkey may have agreed to
act as a peace intermediary be-
tween Bulgaria and the Allies.