Evening star., 1943-09-16

1ted Withdrawals from the Wedg,
they had driven into the Salem,
beachhead earlier this week, ant
dispatches from Allied headquarter
said American and British troop
were holding like a rock in the fac
of increasingly savage German at.
tacks.
Wes Gallagher. Associated Pres.
war correspondent, said the battl,
was still at a critical stage, however
with the terrific fight raging bacl
and forth under the roar of l6-incl
guns from British battleships.
Mr. Gallagher said the 5th Army
composed equally of Americans anc
British, was now the largest Allied
force engaged in single battle sine;
the Mediterranean campaign begar,
On the 5th Army front, our troop.
have strengthened their hold on tht
beaches" the earlier communique
from Allied headquarters an
nounced.
"Reinforcements continue to ar.
rive.
Naval and air support is playing
a great part in assisting the con-
solidation.
Eighth Army troops have reached
Scaiea and are pushing north
Front line reports said Gen
Clark personally inspected all for
ward positions along the 27-mile
bridgehead and told American ano
British troops they must hold on al
all costs. = There must be nc
falling back
Nazis Acknowledge Great Strength.
After trumpeting a false victory
claim that the Allies were fleeing
the Salerno invasion beaches, the
Berlin radio today acknowledged
that the numerical strength of
British forces under Gen
Clark was "far greater than had
been originally believed"
"A blistering taste of Allied fire
power was said to have dampened
the enemy's ardor for tank thrusts,
and the Germans were reported
digging in on the mountain slopes.
At least 20 blackened hulks of Nazi
tanks dotted the plain in one Sec
ton alone.
AS in the previous 24-hour period,
all aircraft in the Northwest African
Air Forces once again blasted Ger
man front-line positions and COM
munications. particularly in the
Eboli area, about Is miles southeast
of Salerno.
The entire Allied air force thus
Joined the struggle for the second
straight day and hurled hundreds
of tons of explosives on the Ger
mans positions with earth shaking
barrages.
Exploit Advantage.
With interchangeable control of
the sea the Allies exploited the
advantage to the utmost by moving
their mobile naval batteries up close
to the beaches and hurling tons
of steel at the Germans. The
British battleships Valiant and
Warspite joined in the lombard
ment.
Casualties in the Salerno battle
have been the heaviest of any in
the Mediterranean fighting.
At least four German divisions
had been identified in the action
and more were being brought up.
1t was probable that as many as
five had been employed in the
effort to smash the Allied grip.
The headquarters communique
had nothing further to report of the
British force which landed at
Taranto and sliced off the Italian
heel with the capture of Brindisi
and Bari in fianking drive on the
east side of the peninsula. These
troops were believed to be tanning
out through the lower backbone OF
the Apprentices, however
A DNB broadcast from Berlin said
German troops had stormed Per-
sano, at the mouth of the Sele River,
indicating a claim to the splitting of
tine Allied 'front.' Seventeen Amer
ican tanks were destroyed and 700
prisoners taken, the broadcast
declared
The German communiQue made
no such claim, but declared landing
heads were further narrowed"
Nazis Report Many Dead.
when storming Altavilla, Amer
leans lost numerous dead and priS-
oners," the communique said, adding
that the German Air Force de-
stroyed an 8,000-ton transport and
damaged II more ships of the land
ing fleet.
The German International Infor-
nation Bureau. in a propaganda
broadcast, asserted that Allied ship
ping losses in the Gulf of Salerno
from September 8, the first day of
operations, until Tuesday totaled
four cruisers. two destroyers, 20
merchantmen and Is landing boats
sunk. and eight cruisers, five de-
stroyers, 80 transports, tankers and
freighters damaged.
Stressing that the 5th Army was
composed equally of Americans and
British and that "there should be no
attempt to make this either an ex-
clusively British or American show
headquarters spokesman said:
L would like to emphasize that
this Salerno attack always was con-
sidered hazardous enterprise and
hard fighting was expected. The ele-
ment of surprise was missing and
from the first day the fighting has
been furious"
The Germans were rushing ell
available troops to the front despite
the terrific Allied air bombardment
which was blanketing the whole area
with bombs, and they were seizing
Italian guns and munitions to throw
into the fray.
Daring Tactics Employed.
Americans and British, on the
other hand. were using some of the
most daring tactics of the war and
accepting suicide" assignments as
a matter of course, headquarters re-
ports said.
Still weak in the air, the Ger
mans were unable to meet the AL
lied air armadas thrown over the
bridgehead. The Allies lost four
planes yesterday while shooting
down five of the enemy