The Wilmington morning star., 1944-06-02
YANK FIGHTERS SIGHT ROME
AFTER SPECTACULAR FIGHT:
VEZLETRI NEARING CAPTURE
MOONLIGHT SNEAK
SURPRISES NAILS
Americans Scale Heights
Behind German Lines
To Encircle Foe

A l. l. | b d HEADQUAR-
TIERS, NAPLES, June T.
P)-American troops in a
spectacular, DANCE -fraught
night time advance have
pierced the Germans power
full defense line before Rome,
encircling the enemy strong
sold of Velletri and capturing
a towering ridge of the Alban
Hills from which they could
see the dome of St. Peters.
Without specific detail, a field
dispatch filed at 8:35 pm. said
American troops fighting in the
Velletri sector of the Alban Mills
have made new gains tonight"
The original penetration was
Wednesday night.
A later dispatch from Asso-
ciated Press Correspondent Daniel
de Luce with the Fifth army said
tonight that Velletri is practical
ly surrounded'' and that the Fifth
army forces are pressing toward
other detectives closer to Rome
on Highway 7.
Kenneth Dixon, Associated Press
field correspondent who accom-.
panied the Yanks in a moonlis
sneak onto 3,0O0-foot heights be.
hind t III Nazis' main defenses.
said in a delayed dispatch:
All day long soldiers have been
disclosing these heights, cleaning
out snipers, machine gunners and
fluid enemy patrols which already
are frantically trying to fight their
way out of the trap. Already hum
dreds of prisoners have been talk
en- and it looks from here like en-
circled Velletri- is soon due to fall
to Fifth Army troops
The German radio indicated to-
day that Velletri already had been
abandoned, but there was no off.
cial Allied confirmation.
The bitterly resisting garrison
of Velletri was caught between the
doughboy raiders holding Monte
Artemision, two miles north and
northwest of the town. and the
main Allied striking force fighting
its way into the lettering bastion
from the Southland east
Plunge Up Slopes
Between Velletri and Valrnon-
tone, another principal bulwark Of
the enemy's defense wall before
the Eternal City, American troops
had plunged almost two miles up
the vacanic slopes and seized a
point on Mount Peschi ridge,
highest feature of the Alban hills.
Both Yank spea~heads were with
in Is miles of Rome's ancient city
wall.
From these heights" wrote AS
ISOLATED Press Correspondent Ed
wart Kennedy from the front.
'the doughboys got their first
glimpses of Rome-a hazy mass Of
buildings in the distance from the
midst of which rose the dome of
S.. Peters, its lines just barely WIS.,
ible."
The nocturnal stab through the
Nazis' elaborate defenses pos
sibly the decisive ''break" in what
had threatened to become pro-
t-aited, struggle for the Alban
Hills-was accomplished without q
shot being fired. Several hundred
American. is1faatrymen craWled
and scrambled in ghoastlike stealth
up almost perpendicular slopes
through the German lines and at
dawn they were dug in in COM
maHdiag positions.
Move Through Breach
Allied troops tonight were re-
ported moving steadily through
the breach in the Nazi wall, con-
solidating their positions despite
violent opposition from enemy
flame throwers, artillery and
tanks. Allied headquarters de-
scribed the gains as limited but
Important
The Germans continued to hu-l
fierce counter attacks at the adj
vancing Americans and British,
and Is Nazi fighter planes made
a rare appearance over the rag
ing battle. One was blown out Of
the air by ground fire.
British forces pushing up from
the coastal sector due south Of
Rome C h d an undisclosed
point on the road north OF Ardea,
and Allied armored units slashing
west of the fortified town of Lam
uvio crossed the Fosso di Campo
lene, drainage canal.