Evening star., 1944-01-26
Italy

Allied advance below Rome had been
SO rapid the Germans do not know
how large the bridgehead has be-
come, and headquarters is withhold
ing that news until the Germans
determine it by actual patrol clashes.
Patrol forayS marked the 9th
Army front on the Adriatic. Indian
troops killed 20 Germans in one pa
troll and took prisoners.
IL Nazi Planes Downed.
Ranging wide, Allied planes
downed IL Nazi planes yesterday,
losing 3. Three enemy planes were
downed over the invasion beach,
heads.
Flying Fortresses bombed a rail-
way bridge at Pedaso and one over
the Vomano River, both on the Ad-
riatic coast. Other planes bombed
Civita Castellana and strafed rail-
way cars near Stimigliano, north OF
Rome, hit the road junction at VAL
letri, northwest of Nettuno, and
shot up a locomotive and eight rail-
way cars at Ceccano.
Raj Bostons on Monday night
harassed German troop movements
between Coprano and Rome. Amer
lean and British planes struck at
Dubrovnik harbor in Yugoslavia, a
radio station near Durazzo, Albania,
and a ship off Leghorn.
Can unconfirmed German
broadcast intimated that. Ameri-
can troops had cut the Appian
Way at Velletri, "a miles SOUTH
east of Rome, after Allied bombs
destroyed the town. At Velletri,
II miles northeast of the orig
inal Allied landing point at Net
turno, the Appian Way and the
Via Casilina, the other great
highway connecting Rome with
Southern Italy, are only miles
apart. The Via CaSilina may be
reached from Velletri by a good
road running northeast to VAL
montope.
(The Rome correspondent of
the Stockholm newspaper Dagens
Nyheter said British and Ameri-
can troops were fighting SO close
to Rome that the action could be
followed with glasses from Castel
Romano, II miles south of the
capital and about II miles north
west Of occupied Anzio on the
.coast. y~a~--. - t. r
! dispatches to Bern from the .,
Italian frontier said that Ger
man authorities had proclaimed
a state Of siege in Rome as the
progress Of Allied troops tanning
out from their Nettuno bridge
head touched of new wave Of
anti-Nazi activity in the city.
(These reports said Allied SYM
pathizers had attacked German
barracks and supply depots and
that bombs had been thrown at
military bureaus and at soldiers
in the streets.
Several German officers were
reported killed by these attacks
in broad daylight.)
Within Clear View Of Towns.
Earlier, q dispatch from Don
Associated Press corre-
spondent with the invasion forces,
said Allied troops were "in perfectly
clear view" of Velletri, Gensano and
Albany, the last of which is Is miles
southeast Of Rome. Gensano is 5
miles west Of Velletri.
In another dispatch written yes
terday, Mr.. Whitehead said Ameri-
can troops supported by tanks are
having to blast German machine
gunners from every farmhouse in
their drive across the Mussolini
Canal.
Hastily throwing UP q defense
against the swift 5th Army drive
inland from their Nettuno beach,
head" Mr.. Whitehead wrote, the
Germans have evacuated Italians
from their homes and turned each
building into q fortress which the
yanks are attacking with tanks and
machine guns"
Mr.. Whitehead noted that for the
first time in the Italian campaign
the Americans are fighting over
country suitable for tanks and that
armor is being used effectively to
support infantry advances.