Evening star., 1944-01-27

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bombers attacked the Italian
port OF Fiume today, causing
considerable damage" a dis
patch from Zagreb, in Croatia,
said today.
BY the Associated Press.
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS
Algiers, Jan. 27.-New reinforce
ments have arrived on the Allied
5th Army front below Rome and
the American-British bridge
head has been improved by linn
tied advances, Allied headquar-
ters announced today in COM
munique which also said that
the first German counterattack
had been thrown back.
CA heavy battle probably will
develop south of Rome as the
Germans attempt to drive the
Allied amphibious forces back
into the sea, Secretary of War
Stimson predicted today.
$50 far the position of the
Allied forces is favorable and
enemy opposition has been ex-
tremely weak, he said. But he
added that there is every reason
to expect violent German re-
action in an effort to save their
communications between Rome
and the southern front in Italy0
Meanwhile, farther south in the
Casino sector, American troops
scored local advances" against stiff
opposition, the announcement said,
and French forces gained important
high ground.
AS men and supplies continued to
pile into the strategic wedge threat
ening Rome, Gen. Sir Harold Alex
ander's Central Mediterranean
headquarters announced that ele-
ments of the Hermann Goering
Armored Division had been met
southwest of Littoria, the chief town
of Mussolini's famous Pontine Marsh
agricultural development, in fierce
local engagement
Nazis Leave 120 Dead.
The Germans left 120 dead on the
field as they were thrown back. The
Hermann Goering Division, formerly
an armored grenadier outfit, has
been strengthened by new equip
ment to a fully armored unit. It
was last encountered on the main
5th Army front. Its appearance on
the beachhead indicated 1t had been
shifted to counter the threat to the
German rear.
On the Casino front American
troops 48 miles east of Littoria con-
tinued to uproot Germans, mines
and meshed defenses, and advanced
across flooded streams and over
steep crags. The advance was scored
just north Of Casino where field
dispatches said the Americans were
within half a mile of the Liri VAL
ley gateway and were overlooking
the bomb -jumbled ruins of the
ancient monastery town. Patrols had
penetrated the outskirts OF the
stronghold.
Some 4 miles farther north the
French rushed down from their
mountain positions on Mount II
Lago in the SAINT Ella area, across
the Secco River and the Casino
Atina road and attacked the Ger
mans on the slopes of Mount Belve-
dere.
Casino Largely Abandoned.
Casino itself appeared to have
been largely abandoned by the Ger
mans, but their positions on the
rugged mass of Mount Cairo and
other hills nearby enabled them to
rake the streets and ruined houses
with their artillery.
Allied naval units continued to
exert a powerful control over the
coastal roads by which Germans
could shift their fighting front from
the Casino area to the northern
beachhead and again ploughed up
sections near Fornia Tuesday night
with their plunging shells. This
sea attack on enemy road traffic is
continuing by day and night.
Allied air forces, despite de-
teriorating weather, attacked other
sections of the German communi-
cation network in the area between
the two Allied fronts, hammering
especially at Cisterna, Ceccano and
Itri.
The fact that Cisterna was being
attacked by Allied bombs was evi-
dence that that pivot point on the
Appian Way and the main railway,
"a miles southeast of Rome and II
miles inland from the Nettuno
beach, still was in German hands.
The presence of German guns there
also indicated it was one of the
strong points for defense of the
Rome area.
Littoria is 13 miles due east of
Nettuno and Az miles from the
coast. It is miles from the Appian
Way.
Many Have Crossed Canal.
The clash with German armor
southwest of there may have indi-
Gated that the British or Americans
have pushed forward across the
Mussolini Canal, along which sharp
clashes previously occurred with
German patrols.
The Americans on the old 5th
Army front were making steady II
painful progress in an encircling
maneuver against Casino despite q
hail of fire from every type of Ger
man weapon and impediment which
could be devised by the enemy.
The French attack to the north
was against the slope of Mount Bel
vedere, which rises to $500 feet
This is of strategic Importance be-
cause of its approach to Mount
Cairo, a 10-mile-long ridge border
ing the Via Casilina to Rome.
The Secco, which the French
crossed, is tributary of the Ra-
pido, crossed by the Americans to
attack Casino from the north, and
(See ITALY, Page A-l4.)