Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-06-11
Fleeing Nazis
Turn in Italy
To Make Stand
5th Army Runs Into
Heavy Fire Near
Town Above Rome
maps on Pages A-3 and CO.

maps on Pages A-3 and C-3J
BY the Associated Press.
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN
ITALY, June 10.-Nazi forces in
Italy, fleeing northward in a
rout which the Allied command
declared had become a "catas-
trophe," turned to make a stand
of stubborn but not fully dis
closed proportions late today
around a village northeast of
Viterbo, which is 40 miles above
Rome.
George Tucker, Associated Press
correspondent with the 5th Army
in the field, wrote in dispatch
timed $50 o'clock tonight that the
previously almost unopposed race OF
the Allies to overtake the retreat
ing Germans had slowed perceptibly
when they ran into a maze of Ger
man 88-millimeter and antitank
gums in and around the village.
The Allies brought up tanks, in
fantry and artillery, and the fight
ing quickly assumed the character
lof stable action" Mr.. Tucker said.
Indications were that the 5th
Army, which has advanced at a
speed Of about Is miles a day since
the fall of Rome last Sunday, had
succeeded in its effort to overtake
and engage some important units
|of Col. Gen. Eberhard Won Macken-
sens 14th Army.
Capturing the ancient town of
Tuscania, Is miles northeast of Tar
quinia, which fell yesterday, the 5th
Army had famed out with just such
an overtaking battle intended.
Earlier today a headquarters
spokesman had described the Ger
man army as "retreating in COM
pletely disorganized fashion," with
the 5th Army unable to catch up
with any important element OF IT,
despite the speed Of pursuit.
Mr.. Tucker wrote tonight that the
Germans were beaten .bi1t by no
means disorganized"
The German withdrawal before
the British 9Th Army on the Adriatic
front. first announced yesterday,
continued with the Allies advancing
more than five miles and capturing
The battle-wrecked towns Of Orsogna,
Guardiagrele, Miglionico and Filetto
and crossing the river Foro.
The 9th Army front east Of Rome
also was advanced as Allied troops.
fighting their way through demoli-
tons and minefields In the rough
country, captured Moricone, II miles
north of Tivoli, and Arsoli, nine
miles northwest of Subiaco.
The cutting up of the German
14th Army was providing the great
drama for the moment, however.
Observing that stragglers and de-
serters were continually being
picked up from all manner of
units" the Allied spokesman said
the only organized body of troops
yet met here were from the Goth
Luftwaffe Field Division, hastily
rushed from Denmark to Italy.
AS the shattered remnants of the
14th Army fed toward the safety
OF Northern Italian mountains, it
left its fellow 10th Army to the
east and south to guard its own
TANKS as best it could. This army
on the west side of the Tiber has
been withdrawing more slowly and
with more order before the 9th
Army, principally because of the
mountainous terrain making pur-
suit difficult.
Nevertheless, the peril to this
army too was so great that spokes-
man for the Allied command in
cluded it along with the 14th in the
forces which he declared now were
being enveloped by catastrophe.
German losses in prisoners anC
equipment were mounting steadily
and although no new figures have
been disclosed recently it appeared
(See ITALY, Page ABB