Current Events August 9, 1943;

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, AUGUST 9, 1943

The German defenders of Sicily appeared doomed to the same fate as

their comrades in Tunisia last night as the British Eighth Army broke the

Nazi line to capture four key towns on the highway circling Mount Etna

on the west, and Allied forces elsewhere 'moved steadily ahead against bitter

resistance.

Italy's three biggest industrial centers—Turin, Milan and Genoa—were damaged heavily early yesterday in a pre-dawn attack by strong formations of RAF Lancasters from England.

Endless columns of Russian tanks sweeping over a 43-mile front have driven spearheads

38 miles deep into the German defense before Kharkov in another push to recapture the vital Ukraine.

    THE STARS AND STRIPES

Daily Newspaper of U.S. Armed Forces in the European Theater of Operation

Vol. 3 No. 238                                       New York, N.Y.—London, England Monday, Ang. 9, 1943

Allies Take 4 Key Towns in Big Advance

Main Line Broken,

Nazis Face Prospect

Of Another Tunisia j

Fall of Adrano and Bronte and Heavy

Air Blows at Randazzo Threaten

To Cut Off German Retreat

The German defenders of Sicily appeared doomed to the same fate as

their comrades in Tunisia last night as the British Eighth Army broke the

Nazi line to capture four key towns on the highway circling Mount Etna

on the west, and Allied forces elsewhere 'moved steadily ahead against bitter

resistance.

The Germans«*till were moving slowly, stubbornly into the last corner

of Sicily, before Messina, and the front has been narrowed to less than 45

miles. ''

Capture of Bronte, junction of the main road from Troina with the circular

road around Etna, threatened to cut off the only line of retreat left

to the German forces still fighting the U.S. Seventh Army beyond Troina, which fell

to the Americans Friday after some of the toughest uphill fighting of the Sicilian

campaign.

Steady Allied advances were reported on all fronts with the help of relentless air attacks and continuing naval bombardments along the north and east coasts.

U.S. Navy forces kept up day and night shelling of Axis positions along the north coast, .and British vessels again bombarded the coastal railway at Taormina

Italy Is Bombed

From England

And N. Africa

Lancasters Raid Turin,

Milan and Genoa;

Naples Hit-Again

Italy's three biggest industrial centers—Turin, Milan and Genoa—were damaged heavily early yesterday in a pre-dawn attack by strong formations of RAF Lancasters from England.

The bombings, following up the fifth raid this month on Naples from bases in Africa, came as Allied headquarters in the Mediterranean disclosed that virtually all rail transport in southern Italy has been stopped by the growing Allied air assault.

Reconnaissance photographs show, officers said, that no traffic has passed through LiJtorio depot at Rome since the July 19 raid on the eternal city, that bomb craters block most of the tracks at Bologna, that east coast traffic through Foggia has ceased, and west coast transport through Naples has been reduced to a trickle.

Rome an 'Open City

Soviet Tanks

Drive Wedge

To Ukraine

Russians Push 38 Miles

Toward Kharkov; Take

70 Communities

MOSCOW, Aug. 8—

Endless columns of Russian tanks sweeping over a 43-mile front have driven spearheads

38 miles deep into the German defense before Kharkov in another push to recapture the vital Ukraine.

Already the Soviets threaten to outflank the great industrial city and rail center, following the capture of 70 inhabited places. Heavy losses have been inflicted on the desperate German forces, it was reported.

On the Briansk front the Russians hurled back 30 Nazi counter-attacks and killed a reported 1,000 in a single day's fighting. This Soviet move may open a path for entry into White Russia and even threaten the German headquarters for Russia at Smolensk.

General Withdrawal