Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-05-19
u. S. and French Forces Drive
Wedge in Center Of Hitler Line
After Disorder|y Nazi Retreat
Allies Hammer
At Defenses All
Along Front
MAP on Page A-3.)
Ey the Associated Press.

ALLIED HEADQUARTERS
Naples, May 19.-French troops
and American tanks broke into
the Hitler Line at its very cen.
ter today in smash TOWARD
SAINT Olivia, front-line dispatch
declared, as the Allies hammered
all along the front at this new
mountain wall manned by the
Germans after "a disorderly re-
treat"
SAINT Oliva-only miles from
Pico on the inland road supplying
the Nazi fronts at the tip of a
pie-shaped wedge driven into the
mountains between Pontecorvo and
French-captured Esperia.
A. headquarters officer declared
the Germans had made "a disor-
derly retreat instead of a mere with
drawal' between the Liri Valley and
the sea when they fell back from
their smashed Gustav defenses to
the Hitler Line under combined
American and French blows.
The Nazis suffered high losses In
equipment, and their artillery
strength particularly has dimin-
ished, he asserted.
Supply Road Menaced.
Even as the French, supported by
American tanks, threatened SAINT
Olivia, American troops struck close
to the key Appian Way junction of
Itri, menacing the German supply
road from the coastal end British
and Poles troops were pushing west
ward from their victory at Casino
on the northern flank.
(The German high command,
reporting the heaviest fighting in
the center, at Pontecorvo and to
the southwest, acknowledged
local dent" in the Hitler Line at
SAINT Olivia, but said it was
sealed off" This indicated a
French-driven wedge toward the
mountain 4 miles from Pico, on
the inland road from threatened
Itri.)
Poles of the British 9th Army
pushing beyond fallen Casino on
the northern flank, fought within a
mile and a half of Piedimonte, 4
miles west of Casino near highway
No. 6-the road to Rome.
On the central sector south of the
Liri Valley, 5th Army forces reached
a point II all line miles from their
jumping-of place of the week-old
Allied offensive by taking 4,129-foot
Monte Faggeto overlooking the Itri-
Pico road, the enemy's only COM
munication link between the ends of
the now-dented Hitler line.
Monticello Captured.
French troops yesterday captured
the village of Monticello, 4 miles
northwest of Esperia, and drove on
toward SAINT Olivia, generally re-
garded as one of the strong points
of the Hitler Line.
Monticello has been described as
situated in the heart of the area
where the Hitler Line defenses
guard the edge of the Liri Valley.
The Allied command declared the
Americans were in close contact
with the enemy in the mountains
forming the southern strongholds of
the Hitler Line and asserted that
the 9th Army, quick to exploit its
successes" in the Casino region,
pressed the enemy vigorously back
against the line"
A glow lighted the skies even as
far south as Naples before dawn to-
day and it was believed the Germans
were destroying ammunition and
other dumps at Gaeta from where
their long-range artillery has been
operating in recent weeks.
Allied warships poured shells
against enemy batteries, dumps and
roads west of that point yesterday
In close support of the ground forces
An official announcement said re-
taliatory fire from German shore
batteries was ineffective
French Move Up Monte D'Oro.
Near the center of the battle line
the French worked up the slopes OF
lofty Monte d'Oro, north of Espe-
ria-an elevation officially described
(See ITALY, Page ABB