May 17, May 17, 1944;Burmase Kohlma Ridge in Allied hands:

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY MAY 17, 1944:

LONDON* May 16.—

A dispatch from the Kohima front reported the whole ridge—the entire Kohima area—is now in Allied hands after the biggest and bloodiest battle yet waged on the Indo-Burmese front. The forty day pitched battle cost the Japanese 3,OO dead and the Allies unannounced but admittedly heavy casualties with a high proportion of officers.

LONDON, May 16.—

Field-Marshal Erwin Rommel has completed  what may be his last personal inspection of the "west wall" and, according to Oslo Radio, he devoted closest attention to Cherbourg peninsula, Normandy—direct cross channel front where German dispatches to neutrals said the Allies were expected to make their main climatic assault.

 

KINGSTON, JAMAICA, .WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 1944.

Allies Gain Kohima Ridge After

40-Day Bloody Battle

• i

LONDON* May 16.—

A dispatch from the Kohima front reported the whole ridge—the entire Kohima area—is now in Allied hands after the biggest and bloodiest battle yet waged on the Indo-Burmese front. The forty day pitched battle cost the Japanese 3,OO dead and the Allies unannounced but admittedly heavy casualties with a high proportion of officers.

But at the conclusion every Japanese was blasted out of the last bunker and their bodies were strewn over the battle area, a triumph for Allied co-ordination of forces which in the first stage was an operation to root out the starving foe clinging desperately. Tip last defenses. The battle was fought by British troops with supplies dropped by American planes.

Unlike the previous Indo-Burmese fighting of infiltration and manoeuvre this 'was a battle for position on a concentrated front.

When the Japanese positions were : softened Allied tanks moved in to pulverize bunkers with armourpiercing shells. Then came the easier job of clearing Naga village and Treasury Hill on the eastern side of Manipur road.

All Out Drive to Sweep

         Away Gustav

    Line  Maintained

FRENCH TROOPS ROUT GERMAN

71st DIVISION IN ADVANCE

ALLIED HEADQUARTERS AT KAPLES, May 16

French troops were today pursuing disorganized remnants, of the German 71st division7ftroi*0fc MS? breach In the Gustav line at .the south edge of Liri valley, the 'whole frontal area of the Gustav line guarding the mouth of Liri valley from Cassino, six miles south to -Liri river, Was endangered by  the French advance which annihilated German opposition farther south and swept through on the enemy's flank.

500,000 Italians

Fleeing North Causing

Greatest Confusion

BERNE May 16:-

It is reported that the Allied push into the Gustav line coupled with the bombings and partisan sabotage have disrupted food deliveries and thrown Italy into the greatest confusion since the days following Mussolini's ouster.

Swiss dispatches - from the border said at least five hundred thousand. Italians were fleeing from the southern war- zone and pushed into Rome which 'already is short of housing with' 200,000 persons bombed out of their homes.

Virtually no rail communications exist from Florence southward, dispatches said, and it is impossible to shunt refugees northward. Trucks and planes alone are available for transporting food to the south.

NAZI SPECULATE ON

ON ALLIED, INVASION

LONDON, May 16.—

Field-Marshal Erwin Rommel has completed  what may be his last personal inspection of the "west wall" and, according to Oslo Radio, he devoted closest attention to Cherbourg peninsula, Normandy—direct cross channel front where German dispatches to neutrals said the Allies were expected to make their main climatic assault.

These reports, mostly reaching Sweden, said the Allies would make not one invasion but many—hitting at all the way from Norway to- the Bay of Biscay and including possible direct attacks on the Germans on the northwest coast in a thrust toward Hamburg. The reports said, "However the final blow will be struck across the channel."

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