Current Events August 5, 1943;

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, AUGUST 5, 1943:

                 The Bakersfield Californian

       BAKERSFIELD, CALIFORNIA, THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 1943

REDS CAPTURE OREL, BELGOROD;

ALLIED TROOPS ENTER CATINA

8th Army Chases Nazis to

Paterno in Swift Move,

Entire Etna Line Crumbles

GERMAN DEFENSES BREAK UNDER HEAVY

POUNDING BY ALLIED ARTILLERY, SHIPS,

PLANES; ADVANCE POINTS FOR MESSINA

ALLIED HEADQUARTERS -IN NORTH AFRICA, AUG 5- (AP)-

British Eighth Army troops shelled Catania early today and swept around the base of Mount Elna to the northwest capturing Palermo, 10 miles away, to crumble the German

line on the east coast of Sicily, headquarters announced. Catania fell to the Eighth Army at 8:30 a. m, (2:30) a. m., eastern war lime) today, after a b i t t e r defense since July I,

and the British pounded ahead in a lightning advance clockwise around the base of

Mount Etna. The heart of the German army corps appeared to be broken. Paterno is 10 miles northwest of Catania, and i! was assumed that Misterbianco. ."> miles northwest of Catania, also had engulfed. German w i t h d r a w a l of noitessenl(????????)

THE RACINE JOURNAL-TIMES

         RACINE, WIS., THURSDAY AFTERNOON, AUGUST 5,1943.

Orel, Catania Fall; Munda Won

AXIS SICILIAN LINE CRUMBLES;

RUSSIANS OCCUPY KEY CITY.

The Allies passed three scattered milestones on the road to

final victory today when they routed diehard axis garrisons

from the Sicilian stronghold of Catania, Orel on the Russian

steppes, and from Munda airstrip in the jungles of the central

Solomons. The three resounding victories climaxed struggles

of like duration and makeup, and each marked a sudden axis

collapse under the weight of inexorable drives. The Allied

fighting men—Americans, Britons, Russians, Canadians—

were on the march. The once terrifying axis hordes—Germans,

Japanese, Italians—were retreating. After announcements

of the capture of Catania and Orel," the finishing touch

was put on the United Nations victory day by a report from

the south Pacific that United States jungle troops had captured

the Munda airstrip and were chopping up the remnants

of its Japanese garrison. It said the enemy defenses had been

crushed and the mopup had begun.

Russia

(By The Associated Press)

Russia's armies have stormed into the German keystone city of Orel, 200 miles south of Moscow,marking up their greatest offensive victory of 1943 and d e a l i ng a stunning blow to morale on t he nazi home front. Orel was the "hinge" of t h e whole German

defense system below Moscow.

The Germans offered stubborn resistance, throwing tanks into b i t t e r street fighting, but the action appeared to be only a r e a r guard defense rather than a serious

effort to challenge the Russians for possession of the key fortified city.

                                                     Mop Up Rearguards.

Yank Jungle Troops Mop Up

Japs on New Georgia Airstrip

By GEORGE JONES

(Copyright 41. by United Press)

MUNDA AIRPORT, New Georgia Island.—

The battle forMunda airfield ended today, except for mopping up. when

sweat-stained American jungle troops poured onto this strategic airstrip, an objective toward which they had struggled yard by yard for 35 days.

The battle for New Georgia island itself was not ended, but already it had been turned into rout for the stubborn Japanese defenders.

A spokesman at Gen. Douglas MacArthur's southwest Pacific headquarters said that "the main Japanese element is finished," and a spokesman at Admiral William F. Halsey's south Pacific headquarters pointed out that mopping up operations will take some time.

                                            Some Officers, Men Evacuated.