Evening star., 1943-08-14
Sicily
Continued From First Page.

'SOIlbinueu rTUIu rHSJ Fh&eJ
slides caused by a liberal use of
dynamite
AS they near the coast the Allied
troops probably will come under the
bombardment of batteries of l5-inch
shore rifles erected on the italian
mainland to beat off Allied warships
and lay down curtain of steel be-
fore the evacuation operation.
These giant guns, throwing 2,400-
pound shells distance of 20 miles,
already had been in action, and
naval reconnaissance indicated there
were several groups Of them near
the Italian toe.
An Allied naval communique dis
closed, however, that British light
and coastal sea forces twice had
swept into Messina Strait at night
in search of enemy shipping with
out meeting any opposition but en-
countering the fire of these shore
batteries which did no damage.
Motor torpedo boats even sent a
fan Of torpedoes after three enemy
merchantmen as they entered Mes
sina harbor and heard an explosion,
presumably caused by the attack.
Other light naval forces smashed
again at the German rearguards
opposing the British 9th Army's
advance on the east coast.
Heavy Air Attacks.
An Allied air communioue dis
closed that the air fleets carried out
heavy attacks on roads and rail-
ways near the evacuation beaches
despite the diversion of hundreds
of planes yesterday to attack Rome.
Medium and light bombers through
out the morning yesterday attacked
road traffic moving from the crum-
bling front toward the strait and
then switched their attack to the
strait.
They sank six small craft and
damaged l6 others carrying beaten
German troops and their salvaged
equipment.
The battle OF Sicily is not quite
over but those boats I saw today
are the. enemy's admission that we
have won it, said the commanding
officer of an Raj Photographic
squadron 3
Although met by hail of antiair-
craft fire, the Allies lost only 4 air
craft in all operations yesterday.
They accounted for 10 enemy planes.
Wellingtons, Mitchells, Bostons,
Warhawks and Baltimores joined in
the antievacuation barrage, hitting
Falcone, Piedmonte and Spadafore
San MARITIME on the North Sicilian
coast, dropping one and two ton
bombs on Marina de Valencia. Palmi
and Pizzo, all obscure little ports on
the italian side, and raising eight
huge fires and big explosion In the
railroad yards at La Mezia.
Troops Machine Gnnned.
Troops scooting across railway
bridge on the Italian side also were
machine-gunned and bombed.
The RAF reconnaissance COM
mander said he did not see more
than dozen barges and landing
craft at time, but they were fully
loaded and acting like frightened
minnows' as they took evasive
action.
Clouds obscured the strait at
times, but off the italian coast near
Rome Beaufighters attacked a mer-
chantman escorted by a corvette
and two motor torpedo boats and
left the merchant ship ablaze and
one OF the torpedo boats wrecked
by an explosion. Another merchant
coast by Mitchells.
Meanwhile, it was disclosed that
the American 9th Division was in
action in Sicily and was the first to
enter Randazzo, closely followed by
the British 18th Division.
When the Americans broke into
that communications hub yesterday
morning, they found it a mass of
flames caused by German destruc-
ton of ammunition and supplies.
The battle for RandazZo reached
a climax at dawn yesterday, when
the American 9th Division reached
positions on the north and the Brit
ish on the right and put on a CO.
ordinated squeeze under cover of a
shattering artillery barrage.
Riposto Falls to British.
The British 9th Army captured
Giarre, Milo and Riposito Riposito
is 10 miles south of Taormlna. The
Americans overran FloreSta and
Piraino. The latter town is three
miles beyond Brolo. which fell
earlier in the week to an amphibi-
Gus f1anking attack behind German
defenses at Cape Orlando.
The capture OF FloreSta, about
midway from Randazzo and Cape
Orlando, would indicate a consid-
cradle northern sweep by the
American forces.
Ripostos fall clears the way for
the British Army's northward ad-
vance on TaolTnina terminus of the
highway linking Randazzo with the
coast and escape route for German
forces retreating from Randazzo
Giarre lies just southeast of
Riposto and Milo is village on the
eastern slopes of Mount Etna.
Enemy rearguards retreating from
Randazzo to Taormina. about 20
miles away, were being steadily pur-
sued by the Central Allied forces, the
announcement said, adding that stiff
resistance was being encountered
from the suicide German detach-
mentS.
"a dispatch from London to
the Canadian press last night
said that Canadian troops ap-
parently no longer are fighting
on Sicily and stated the belief
that some new assignment for
the Canadians was under discus
sion at the Quebec conferences.
Field diSOa tcbes have op,ittad