Mediterranean Algiers Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 7, 1943, Algiers, Algiers Vol. I no. O5f Datura a rugs it i a Axis makes last ditch stand triple play for the allies Russia Munda Sicily soviet forces score great Victory Munda base Falls battered foe flees northward after Catania rout by to set. Hilary Lyons stars Ana stripes stall writer Allied Force Headquarters a. 6 battered German Force driven from Catania and the it of a Hern end of their mount Etna detente ire. Yesterday fared a last ditch fight in Sicily a a ouch i Quot n a a or Ltd Allied Force Preed Relente Lyard. The a Hie yesterday were within 50 mile of the Oft bombed port of Messina last of the Axi Iron Holda on the nearly conquered Island. I he fiercest fighting entered around capture of Belgorod follows Brilliant Orel seizure troop train ban is blow to nazis the russian Flag today Waves Over the embattled bastion of Orel and the stronghold o f Belgorod. Twelve salvos boomed out from 120 cannons in Moscow in a glorious Salute to the red army under a direct order from marshal Joseph Stalin. The announcement of the capture of Belgorod came As a Complete Surprise in an order of the Day from Stalin. While the military spotlight was focused on Orel for weeks the russians showed they had the manpower and armament needed to smash the Southern end of the 160-mile salient Only g few hours after the fortress of Orel had fallen. Greatest Victory soviet forces who streamed into both cities after a three weeks Advance that closed two huge pincers. Had won their greatest Victory of the War. Greater even than Stalingrad military observers a where the germans created their own death trap at the City named for the russian supreme commander but at Orel the Wehr Macht was overwhelmed by steamroller tactics which broke through the enemy a strongest defences. Capitulation of Orel and Belgorod gave no rest to the nazi forces who found themselves closer to Berlin than at anytime since the summer of 1941. An estimated >00 000 fled Westward from Oiel and at least half that number Wert trying to elude the inevitable grasp of the soviet Nutcracker at Belgorod. Even while the swarming russians were mopping up the last pockets of resistance in Orel other red army troops were advancing swiftly to the West with their next destination certainly Bryansk despite the claims by Berlin commentators that the nazi movement to the rear was merely a tactical retraction of the spearhead the most disastrous German defeat since they launched their Blitzkrieg now almost a forgotten word on sept. I 1939. Came in the Middle of summer the most significant evidence that the legions of Adolf Hitler have Ost their military magic. Haunted by boast Der fuehrer must be haunted by the boast he made on get. 3. 1941, when German troops occupied Orel. Quot this opponent is already broken and will never Rise again he mocked Russia. Only a month ago the German forces jump red off on their Ong do Laved summer offensive. They aimed at kursk in an Effort o straighten the russian arc that jutted Westward from Belgorod to continued on Page i London Sweden s cancellation this week of the agreement allowing German troop trains to pass through Sweden to and from Norway was looked on Here As a heavy morale blow to the Reich observers pointed out that the move greatly increased Germany s difficulties in maintaining communications with her troops in Norway. Jungi. Njau 1. Bombing by fierce clash confusion still grips italians As its second week of precarious Power Drew to a close. Marshal Pietro Bado lloy a government yesterday moved frantically to appease the rebellious peace seeking italian masses by announcing new reprisals against the fallen and now hated fascists. At the same time the official Rome radio declared that the government was Bent on continuing the War at Germany a Side. The italian people the government solemnly announced after a lengthy Cabinet meeting thursday night must no longer utter the word other and less ironic decrees abolished the various fascist youth organizations and con continued on Page 2j for stronghold Allied Pacific Headquarters a Muddy Battle stained american ground forces ended id Days of remorseless Jungle fighting thus week with the capture of the japanese base of Munda on new Georgia Island in the Solomons. Seizure of the important Strong hold was reported in fridays communique which described the i Mal assault i it on the Ai drome As a Axis to hand struggle preceded the italians that the allies woo by a tank and flame thrower at i Liike hard materialized last Lunback which blasted the japanese. A a is on out of their pillboxes and trenches. The communique admitted that attacks smash italian targets by a sgt. George m. Hakim stars Ana strips stall writer Allied Force Headquarters. Aug. 6 Sicily and the italian Mainland left the Lull might of american and British air Power till past week As the Northwest african air forces resumed til or Sledge Fie Miner blows against the warning to the japanese had managed to evacuate some of the de Eudeis by destroyer to Kolom Angara out the remainder had either been destroyed in the past Tew Days lighting or were completely encircled and doomed. Allied Pacific Headquarters said the beaten japanese Nan left hug stores of food clothing damaged guns and several aircraft japanese lasses throughout the entire drive were described As heavy. Allied sources predicted unit the newly won base will be used As an Allied Point of operations again other japanese positions in the Northern Solomons it Wilt be some time before the base can be used. They said because american bombing attacks had levelled Many of the installations Inland Trona. Where units of the 7th army were locked in struggle with Desi it Erate German troops. The fail of Catania after a three week siege marked the opening of the final chapter in the Battle for Sicily. On thursday at 1015 hours the italian 434th coastal battalion formally surrender to Sun baked British 8th army veterans in Catania a battered streets the italians had a sad Story to Tell. Without warning their German allies had has ily evacuated the City leaving the italians to do the Best they could. The italian Quot Best proved to to i Speed surrender shrewd movement a shrewd and ably executed flanking movement brought Catania into tile jaws of the Allied trap. While some units of the British 8th held tile men of the Axis on the Plains directly to the South of the great East coast port other Day with the first of tour raids on Naples. Of the great Easi Coati Pun a the week Drew to a close Anco Canadian units swept in Allied bows mounted in Lin Towar j the Road that runs round Axis dreads Cums in sicilian righting by a sgt. Ralph g. Martin stars and stripes stall writer with the american for Bering As quietly Ges in northeastern Goulds dont tight one English speaking German prisoner complained. Inv Are that a True. But these French moroccan native troops have been taking Hill after Hill bringing Back hundreds of German prisoners leaving behind them Many More Jerries quite dead All of them have intimate knowledge of the French Light machine gun the american of my gun and the 81 Nim. Mortar but give them a Bayonet and a Bunch of grenades and they la i Large any position anywhere. In their first action in this northeastern pocket of Hills fighting on the flank of . Troops their objective was a pair of twin Hills just outside of Mistretta held by two companies of Wei entrenched germans after getting into positions at night Clam As goats the Gums made a a a cold steel attack preceded by several dozen Well aimed grenades. When they got. Within 50 Yards of the top me Jerries opened up with to canine guns. Instead of tailing Flat on their faces Hunting Tor Cov a. The Gums rushed straight in Tor some hand to hand lighting that Eracli Gormier has a ten Inch knife a Quot Soumia which he used to Cut off Heads now it longer does that unless tie gets very very mad. Which sometimes happens. And that a who these big. Black boys rank so High on the. Nazi unpopularity list of people we do not want to it it with on a desert Island the germans definitely Don t ilk the Gums. But the italians Are scared to death of the in d e Amateur Birta sectors where the Gums were attached to the division three i Allan companies continued on Page ii la. Shy by thursday the Allied Aerial offensive Nad reached its highest pitch As he Nap unleashed me Lull Lury of their attack on Axis positions Aud communications. Win the land lighting in bully reaching its final stages the emphasis of Hie bombing attack was to Mainland centers. Bombers went All out in their extort to prevent Hie Rem to Cement of hard pressed Axis forces on me Island. Key rail junctions in Southern Italy were int hard and often Ana no iou Cia is in a Row bombers dropped their loads on Hie bomb battered City of Naples. Meanwhile in one of int Surprise raids of the War. A powerful to ice of nearly 200 libel ants of the 9th a Baa carried out the biggest Low level Mas attack in aviation history when they hit the Plesti Oil Fields in Rumania on sunday. Flying a record distance of 1.200 Miles the bombers dipped 600 too pounds of explosives and thousands of incendiary bombs on the Oil refineries which Supply More than Talier cent Al Germany s Petroleum demands. Reports of the damage done during this mass Daylight raid revealed that one Large refinery had been completely destroyed and six badly damaged during the Mission numbers took a toll of Ai enemy fighters. Twenty of the liberators were retried to have been shot Down and a number i continued on Page 8 Sicily Campaign casualties Light Washington american casualties in Sicily up to july 22 totalled 6/s41 including boo killed and 2.370 missing. Henry l Stimson. Sen it Ary of War. Announced Here this week Stimson said British losses were not a great Deal higher and that the total Allied casualties were considered moderate. Axis losses be said were heavy Over 100,000 enemy troop had been captured. Toward the Road that runs round Etna Westward from Catania. These forces last week stormed the Mountain town of centum die seizing positions that dominate the town of drano on the Etna Road. With the e drano bottleneck threatened the germans dared not leave their men in Catania. That would have meant leaving troop its in a hopeless pocket in the South and weakening their forces in the North. To avoid such a split the withdrawal from Catania was ordered yesterday the British were pursuing the fleeing germans up toward drano Over ground littered with abandoned equipment and enemy dead. In a area strewn with lava thrown up by volcanic Etna in past years the British 78th division and their Canadian comrades were pounding against drano in the face of Strong enemy resistance an unconfirmed report placed the 78th and the canadians univ five Miles from the town heaviest Burden As the germans sought to save what they could from the sicilian wreckage and hold up the capture of Messina As Long As Kim sible. The heaviest Burden of Battle fell on 7til army units battling in the deep scorched valleys and the lofty peaks around Troma. The terrain a difficult As any encountered in Tunisia and the accuracy of German mortars made the going hard. But yesterdays communique announced that tile yanks had beaten the germans mainly the 15th Panzer grenadiers it was thought at Galhano i mime six Miles Southwest of Tropia and were steadily overcoming an a opposition described As fanatical the capture of Troina located on a Road which joins the Etna communications line at Randazzo seems reasonably near. In the North coastal sector also the germans were giving ground. There other 7th army men. Sup a my red by bombardments from sea and air yesterday gained up to three Miles apparently endanger continued on Page 8
