Current Events October 31, 1943;

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY OCTOBER 31, 1943:

Russian troops sweeping across th« Nogaisk steppe reached the edge of the Crimea at its northeastern
entrance Saturday and simultaneously raced to within 22 miles of its northwestern door at Perekop, the last escape route for the large German Crimean forces.

General Mark Clark's combined Fifth army has hurdled the stubborn barrier of the Regia canal and occupied Mondragone, while further inland other allied units have overwhelmed Pietremelara' and swept to Pietravairano, which dominates the vital Vairano road junction three miles west

The Japanese are | withdrawing before allied invaders of Treasury island, the high command announced Sunday, Treasury (Mono) has-only about 300 Japanese on it, and these began fleeing as', soon as the American and New; Zealand ,amphibious troops landed there .Wednesday.

   The Salt Lake City Tribune
                              Salt Lake City, Utah, Sunday Morning, October 31, 1943
          Russ Open Siege of the Crimea

Sweeping Drive
Seals Nazis'
Escape Route
Capture of Geniehesk Carries Reds
To Northern Border Tip;
Race 22 Miles, Seize 150 Towns
•*•-*• Russia (Official)—By Associated Press
LONDON, Oct. 30—
Russian troops sweeping across th« Nogaisk steppe reached the edge of the Crimea at its northeastern
entrance Saturday and simultaneously raced to within 22 miles of its northwestern door at Perekop, the last escape route for the large German Crimean forces.
In one of the most spectacular drives of the war the Russians thus were ready to seal off the great peninsula and within a. matter of hours lay siege to the. hundreds of thousands of Germans estimated to be still quartered there.
The battle of the Crimea was. on. he northaastern entrance to the Crimea was reached with the capture of Gcnichesk, while northwestward a second column striking directly toward Perekop captured
the. town of Askanlya Nova., traly 22 miles away.
The Russians advanced up to 22 miles in their' day's drive and swept up a total of :50 more tovma on the desert steppe as they prepared to choke off the Crimea at its this, vulnerable neck.
Sealing-, off the peninsula, with hundreds of thousands of Germans caught in the trap appeared to be only a matter of hours as German resistance broke.
                                                                    56 Miles in Week
To take Genlchesk th« Russians had advanced 56 miles in exactly a week from, the capture of Melitopol
and reached the shores of the Sivash or "Putrid" sea. formed by a thin bar of land cutting off the eastern shore of the Crimea from the Sea of Azav.
While General

Fifth Army Jumps Barrier
in Drive on Italy Line
*»-»• Allies (Official)
Exclusive; New York Times-Salt Lake Tribune
By Milton Bracker
 ALLIED HEADQUARTERS, Algiers, Oct. 30 —
General Mark Clark's combined Fifth army has hurdled the stubborn barrier of the Regia canal and occupied Mondragone, while further inland other allied units have overwhelmed Pietremelara' and swept to Pietravairano, which dominates the vital Vairano road junction three miles west.

Vairano is also threatened by British-American troops moving up from the south and are now within two miles of the city, while Ailano and Tano remain just beyond the invaders' grasp. Meanwhile, on the Eighth
army .front, General Bernard Montgomery's British -..Canadian troops took Montremitro ' and probed German defenses with aggressive patrol actions, while rain, which continued to hamper the ground forces, did not prevent a large 'force of United States Flying Fortresses from surging far north in Italy to raid railroad yards at Genoa for the first time from this theater. .

.This most important Italian port has been attacked often by the United States Eighth air force from England, but never before from the Mediterranean.
Tactical bombers were also able to,operate in close support of ground troops to a greater extent than had been' possible for several, days. The. Fifth army's seizure of Mondragone found the little town near the site of ancient Sinuessa, which the Saracens razed in the tenth century, literally a deserted village.
Although Mondragone had been regarded as the coastal anchor of the transpeninsular German front extending toward Via Venafro, it developed that werhmacht units holding Mondragone were  only engaged in the final stage of a rearguard action and the enemy apparently never planned a serious stand in the town itself.

Japs Flee as Allies
Land on Island By Associated Press
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN
THE SOUTHWEST, PACIFIC,
Sunday, Oct. 31—
The Japanese are | withdrawing before allied invaders of Treasury island, the high comrnand announced'Sunday, Treasury (Mono) has-only about 300 Japanese on it, and these beganfleeing as', soon as the American and New; Zealand ,amphibious troops landed there .Wednesday.
Sunday's communique also announcedthe sinking by allied planes of a troop-laden-vessel, off Buka on northern Bougainville. That is on the opposite side of the base from the .allied invasion scenes at Treasury and Choiseul.
The hard hit Japanesp air force put in a belated appearance, sending dive bombers against the Treasury invaders.. .Twelve of the planes were shot down. Eleven small -Japanese boats were strafed off Choiseul, the island southeast of Bougainville where sea-borne paratroops landed Thursday.