The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-07-13

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some sectors to 20 miles" it added.
Inland, ION the eastern sector)
very good progress has been made"
During the past "a hours great
activity has continued off and on
all the beaches as reinforcements.
vehicles and supplies have been
landed by the Navy and moved for
ward" the communlque continued.
surf has made this work difficult
in some of the more exposed posi-
lions. There has been some bomb
ing of shipping by enemy aircraft.
The naval operations, in which
more than 5000 shipping vessels and
craft of all types, warships and
merchantmen are taxing part, are
proceeding satisfactorily"
Syracuse Fallen
The communicate said that the
port of Syracuse was now in Allied
hands and that the harbor and port
facilities apparently were undam-
aged.
While the land forces continued
their advance, air squadrons led by
flying fortresses pounded Messina,
shutting off traffic with Italy, and
hundreds of fighters and fighter
bombers destroyed Axis supply and
troop conveys on the roads of Sicily
without meeting much Axis air OPP
position. Twenty eight Axis planes
were shot down. We lost IL.
Swedish dispatches quoted Ger
man reports that the Allies had
landed seven Infantry divisions
normally 100000 men and two
tank divisions in the first two days
of the invasion. One tank division
was identified as American and the
other as British)
The threat to Augusta, Axis sea-
plane and submarine base 80 miles
south of Catania, arose from the
capture of Syracuse on the first day
of the invasion Saturday.
American forces were slowly fam
ming out from their bridgeheads in
the Licata-Gela area of the south
coast and massing strength to meet
an anticipated major Axis counter
attack from the west.
GA German communicate said
fierce fighting was continuing in
Sicily. Twenty-Five enemy planes
were shot down over Sicily and Sar
DINA yesterday and heavy losses
we're inflicted on the Allied landing
fleet, the Commumque said.)
While torpedo planes concen-
trated on enemy shipping, bombers
from both the northwest African
and Middle Eastern commands
struck at enemy ports and airfields,
both on Sicily and on the nearby
Italian mainland, and other air
craft shot up enemy troop and
transport concentrations in support
of ground forces.
Ships Sunk
Two Axis supply ships were sunk,
a third was damaged badly and two
destroyers left af1ame from bow to
stern by torpedo aircraft under the
command of Air Vice Marshal Sir
Hugh Pugh Lloyd.
The planes caught the ships,
which were carrying supplies and
reinforcements to Sicily, in the
Tyrrhenian sea between Sardinia
and Sicily Sunday night and pressed
home their attack in the face of
heavy anti-aircraft fire. The de-
stroyers were damaged so badly that
they probably sank.
Two other Axis troop ships were
reported hit in Sicilian waters.
Northwest African Flying Fort
resses, pacing the days bombing Of
fensive, were credited with destroy
ing two vital railroad bridges at
Messina, terminus of the Sicilian
ferry line from the toe of the Ital-
ian boot.
simultaneously, 100 American
Liberators from the Eastern
command dropped more than $4,000
pounds of explosives on the MAIN
land ports of Reggie Calabria and
San Giovanni, across Messina START
from Sicily, in furtherance of the
campaign to isolate the island from
reinforcement.
An American communicate issued
in Cairo said the San Giovanni
railroad yards were blanketed with
bomb hits and bursts also were OBJ
served near the central station and
around the ferry terminal. The
main mole was straddled with
bombs.
Dumps Fired
At Reggie Calabria, gasoline and
ammunition dumps were set afire
and hits were reported near the
railway station, sidings, moles and
a ferry boat. One plane was lost.
British Liberators and Halifaxes
bombed an airdrome near Reggie
Calabria Sunday night and several
small fires were started. Another
Axis airdrome up the coast at Who
Valentia also was attacked and
bomb bursts were seen in the hangar
area.
(British-based Raj four-engined
planes in heavy strength smashed
at the Italian arsenal city of Turin
last night. A Stockholm dispatch
said the italian press has begun to
prepare the nation for the eventual
loss of Sicily and Radio Morocco
asserted that serious anti-war DEM
onstrations have broken out in
northern Italy)
Bombers and fighters from the
Northwest African Air forces shut
tied back and forth across the Med
iterranean to Sicily in a constant
stream to heap new destruction on
enemy-hold ports and batter trans
port and troop columns seeking to
mass behind the front for counter
attacks on Allied forces that have
won 10 cities along the southern
and eastern coasts and pushed Is
miles inland.
Twenty EIGHT enemy planes were
shot down over Sicily and sur
rounding area yesterday to boost
the Allies three-day bag to about
100. Only II Allied planes were
lost.
Messina Attacked
Allied bombers made heavy and
concentrated attacks on Messina, at
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