The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-05-26

Despite the defection of his Axis partner, he did not fall back be- yond Rome as anticipated. Instead, he served notice he intended to scrap for the peninsula the en- tire way, holding to each foot of ground until blasted from it.
 The Allied plan called for It. Gen. Mark w. Clark's 5th Army to move up the left flank of the peninsula and the British 9th up the right. The 5th was to gain con- trol of and follow the Appian Way running along the coast 80 miles to Rome, as well as a roundabout Inland mountain road which final ly turned down the Liri valley to the Eternal City. The British were to move up the Adriatic coast to Pescara, from which a good road run across the peninsula to Rome.
 The Allies soon found that these or any other roads to Rome were not easy pushes.
 They had thought the 26-mile, 29-day advance from Salerno to Naples hard. From Naples it was to take four months of discourag- Ing, desperate and costly climbing and fighting even to reach Cas- Slno, 45 miles beyond.
 , Weather Favored Enemy
 From the beginning, perverse weather and mountainous terrain were on the enemy's side. The river barriers-Volturno, Garigli- ano, Sangro. Moro, Rapido - that crossed Italy like the rings of ladder defied the bridging efforts of engineers. The high ground commanding the roads and valleys aided the Germans even more. In- termttent rains turned the ground into a slime of clinging mud. Planes were grounded. Supply and ! transport difficulties multiplied Winter brought rain, snow and TO- mile gales.
 The Nazis, having decided to make Italy a battle-ground, made targets of the pleasant Italian towns and villages. They quartered troops in the ancient houses and barns and made military head quarters out of village halls. Barn. yards and piazzas became gun ssltes, and church spires observa- mon towers.
 l These tactics meant ruin to many Italian towns. The massed artillery of the approaching Allies would pour tons of shells into their ancient stone buildings. Often they would change hands two or three tinle5 in the course of savage builAng to building fighting. When the Germans finally with drew, demolitions would add to the ruin. 1sernia, Venafro, Castelforte Mignano. Ortona, San Pietro In- fine. San Vitore were among the many towns obliterated as the bat tie rolled over them.
 By mid-January, the 5th had fought it's way to a strategic ring of 2.000-foot mountain peaks lying about Casino, the German abbey stronghold blocking the Liri val ley route to Rome. There the Ger mans stood fast against all at Jacks, entrenching themselves be- hind their so-called Gustav Line" stretching from point 12 miles below Pescara on the east coast across to the mouth of the Garig- liano, 60 miles below Rome. The German commander boasted his winter lines could be considered "intact" at this point.
 Ended Boast
 He could not boast for long. On Jan. 9, General Clark, in a move to break the deadlock, struck by sea around the Wehrmacht's flank. Landing at Anzio, 30 miles below Rome, he quickly achieved beachhead 10 miles long and some eight miles deep.
 But as a threat calculated to draw the Germans up from their Gustav line and perhaps make them abandon Rome as well, the new landings did not work. The Nazis did neither. They held on at Casino, and they sent seven fresh divisions below Rome to push the new beachhead back into the sea.
 At least Adolf Hitler promised they would push it back, and the Werhmacht lashed out furiouSly in an effort to make good. For six precarious weeks, the beachhead force sweated under savage coun- ter attacks and constant shelling. Once, in early March, the enemy pushed a salient a mile into the Allied line before U. s. artillery, firing with bowling alley precision, knocked him back. At the end of the month, both sides paused from sheer exhaustion. Fighting was confined to patrol action. The beachhead had established itself to stay.
 On the southern front, mean while, only the struggle fer Cas- sino had produced major fighting On Feb. 15, American bombers were obliged to dernGlisi1 Casinos ancient Benedictine Abbey, used by the Germans to house artillery A month later, they came back to blast the stone-built city literally to bits in a record-shattering bom- bardment-only to have the stub- born defenders weather the storm underground and emerge again full of fight. In April, that battle too settled down to state of rest less equilibrium. Further action in Italy seemed to hinge on new de- oicinnc hu fha Alliad onr,, mo ndorc