Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1944-05-18
behind
THE NEWS
BY Paul
MaIIon

Al
w jump-off hour OF this Allied
campaign 10 crush the Gustav
Line was one you would least
expect-ll p. m.
Usually the zero hour for at
tack is dawn after night OF ar
tillery bombardment. But the
British Gen. Alexander used
precisely the m dangerous
black night moment for the sue
cessful surprise assault upon FL
Alamein Line in Egypt. He is
apparently the only general who
is able 10 work out the finest
detailed conference required for
opening grand offensives in the
dark.
II is his theory that if every
officer knows exactly what is
expected of him, the cover OF
darkness is of aid TO an attack
ing force, especially as defense
lines are then most thinly
manned. lie starts off with ar
tillery preparations in advance
of the zero hour, but his first
movements afterward are to
clear mine fields and the in
fantry follows close behind the
sweepers.
In this way, the attacking
force knows W h a I il is doing
while the defense does not, and
enemy artillery is particularly
deficient against the advancing
infantry.
SURPRISINGLY and deliber-
~ ately also, Gen. Alexander
has been playing down news
from the front in his commu-
niques. His announcements for
the first five days of this great
operation were limited to one
paragraph each, usually contain.
ing two sentences of exception
ally restrained language.
This is traceable to an agree
ment made in advance by the
United Nations staff that the
usual whooping and enthusiastic
claims. threats or promises as
ISOLATED with such offensives be
avoided and cold developments
allowed to speak for themselves.
The heaviness of the fighting
may not, therefore, have been
fully appreciated.
The strategy was not headlong
assault upon the whole Gustav
Line, as may also have been inn
piled in accounts, but~several
knitting thrusts. The sharpest
one was the drive Of the British
up Liri River valley few miles
south of Casino.
THE Germans expected the
l. major Casino attack to fall
north Of the town where the
British swept around their
mountain positions to fall upon
the road to Rome. Indeed, we
got within a mile Of the road in
three days.
But the Liri River attack was
the real threat 10 Casino, al
though not in the direction of
the town. Your map will show
you that the Liri valley leads
westward to a valley cutting
northward five or six miles
across the same Casino Rome
road far in the rear of the Ger
man advance positions. That
was the spearhead upon which
we mainly depended to cut off
Casino.
German resistance on both
these fronts was rather strenu-
Gus, particularly at Casino, but
the French knitting thrust mo.
y found fairly easy going
farther down the line south
ward, halfway to the sea. There
fewer German troops were en-
countered than expected.
At the southern end OF the
line, the American knitting thrust
mo. 81 had the aid of British
and American warships, whose
guns penetrated halfway to Cas-
sino as a matter of fact.
THE Germans we're found to
l. be yery,weak in the air, of
fered no more than 20 to 30
planes in the air at time, and
most Of these were used in bonn
harding ships and roads in the
rear.
A check of their strength indi-
Gated the presence Of about Is
Nazi divisions (270,000 mem. on
the Gustav 'front.' Anzlo beach
head line. and in reserve held
between both points. This was
not an unexpected strength.
We went in with planes and
everything, and with tanks at
some points, but the tanks could
not be used freely until we
spread out in the valleys as
there are few roads in the en-
tire battle area.
TIIE NaZis claim 10 have re-
L moved all their men from
the Crimea successfully. while
the Russians claim III. ZOO cas-
ualties, of which about half t61.-
~ r,0