Fierce battles raged yesterday half
a mile east of Carroceto after British troops seized the initiative in the
northern sector of the Anzio bridgehead in Italy over the weekend, drove the
Germans out of a heavily-fortified factory and withstood a desperate
counter-attack by flame throwing tanks.
The U.S. Strategic Air Forces in Europe
comprising the British-based Eighth' and the Italian-based 15th, reached a new
peak in their mounting air attack on Nazi targets in January by dropping more than 22,000
tons of bombs and destroying '930 German
planes in the air, against the loss of 325.
CHUNGKING. Feb. 14 (AP)—
An aggressive China-based land
and air offensive in support of an American drive across the Pacific to land ground
and air forces on the Chinese mainland was pledged by Lt Gen Joseph Stilwell, who is now in
the Ledo sector with Chinese and American forces.
WASHINGTON. Feb. 14 —
Tokyo radio claimed today that
American warships and planes had been blasting the Marshall Islands of Wotje
and Taroa in attacks similar to those which preceded the landings at Kwaialein.
(See map and stratigic description of the Marshalls reported Feb. 13)
(See map and stratigic description of the Marshalls reported Feb. 13)
Churchill And
Clark Sure Of
Rome Victory
Offensives Over
Weekend
Result In
Recapture Of
Some Lost
Territory
Fierce battles raged yesterday half
a mile east of Carroceto after British troops seized the initiative in the
northern sector of the Anzio bridgehead in Italy over the weekend, drove the
Germans out of a heavily-fortified factory and withstood a desperate
counter-attack by flame throwing tanks. .
Allied ground offensives over the
weekend resulted in recapture of some territory lost in the five-day German
effort to drive the Fifth Army back into the sea, and intended to dissipate
fears that the Allied campaign for Rome would end in failure.
Switching to tactical targets.
Allied heavy bombers relentlessly hammered German communications leading to the
bridgehead. Allied headquarters announced
yesterday that the situation was 'generally
satisfactory." Only 48 hours previously President Roosevelt had described
the Allied position as "grim" and Canadian Prime Minister MacKenzie
King warned .that "we are witnessing the possibility of terrible reverses
in Italy that may prolong the war not flor days or months but for years."
Prime Minister
Confident
However, Lt Gen. Mark W: Clark and
Prime Minister Churchill both confidently asserted over the weekend that the
Americans and British would win the great battle now raging and take Rome
In a message to all his troops
from Anzio to Cassino. Gen. Clark said that "the next step in the
successful operations which have just begun would see the Allied troops massed before
the Gustav line break through the German positions and join the bridgehead
forces for "a victorious march into Rome and to the .north.
Reds
Capture
Luga;
Newest
Trap
Closed
Way Opened For A
Drive
On Pskov;
Barrier To
Lwow Line Falls
Luga last German stronghold between
Lakes Ilmen and Peipus, and principal obstacle in the way. of a Soviet drive on
Pskov, gateway to Estonia and Latvia, has fallen before the assault of Russia's
Leningrad army. Marshal Stalin announced last night.
Capture of the city, an important
communications center 90 miles south of Leningrad, where the Leningrad- Pskov railroad
is cut by the east-west line from Novgorod to Luga, closed a far flung pincers
from north and east.
How many Germans had been sewed
up in the bag remained undisclosed last night, but presumably there were many.
Moscow radio earlier mentioned "strong forces of infantry and tanks"
threatened with encirclement near the city.
The drive from Pskov, 90 miles southwest
of Lupa, already has begun with the Russians squeezing the enemy into a
funnel-shaped area between the east shore of Lake Peipus and the Luga-Pskov
railway—a funnel which ends in a ten mile gap between Pskov and the southern
end of the lake. A return of colder weather in the north favored speedy development
of this offensive.
The victory of the northern
front, announced by Stalin in an order of the day addressed to Gen. Govorov, commander
of the army which broke the siege of Leningrad, came a day after the fall of
Shepetovka in the western Ukraine, had opened the way for a Red Army thrust to
the Odessa- Lwow railway. ,
Earlier the Russians announced
the capture of Batetskaya Junction, 17 miles east of Luga, where the rail line
running south from Leningrad crosses the Novgorod-Luga tracks.
Heavies
Pay Another Visit To Pas de Calais;
January's
22,000 Tons New U.S. Record
Raids Peak Month
Also
Includes Italy;
930
Planes Are
Bagged
The U.S. Strategic Air Forces in Europe
comprising the British-based Eighth' and the Italian-based 15th, reached a new
peak in their mounting air attack on Nazi targets in January by dropping more than 22,000
tons of bombs and destroying '930 German
planes in the air, against the loss of 325.
An official review of operations
for the first month of 1944 showed yesterday that in 13 operational days the 8th
dropped 11,789 tons, while the 15th, engaged part of the month in
supporting the Nettuno landings
near Rome, dropped 10,704 tons in 25 days.
Liberators,
Forts Plaster
Secret Area 41st
Day
Out Of Last 54
Strong formations of Flying
Fortresses and Liberators kept up the unprecedented pace of American daylight
attacks on the enemy yesterday with another smashing blow at the unidentified
targets in northern France—the area which now has been hit on 41 days in the
last 54.
The daylight assault on the
Germans' forward positions on the neck of land closest to Britain was the 14th
operation in the last 16 days for the new USSTAF—U.S. Strategic Air Forces in
Europe—and indicated that another record month of operations was probable.
The big bombers crossed the
channel under a whirring umbrella of Thunderbolts, Lightnings and Mustangs.
Follows Up Lib
Blow
Only 24 hours earlier Labs hit objectives
in the same area, returning without loss. The losses yesterday had not been announced1 late last night,
but returning crews again said that German fighter opposition was at a minimum though
flak was heavy.
Stilwell
Pledges Great Assault
To
Aid U.S. Landings In China
CHUNGKING. Feb. 14 (AP)—
An aggressive China-based land
and air offensive in support of an American drive across the Pacific to land ground
and air forces on the Chinese mainland was pledged by Lt Gen Joseph Stilwell, who is now in
the Ledo sector with Chinese and American forces. Gen. Stilwell said that every facility
and accommodation is being prepared for the largest and newest cargo carriers
available to fly far greater tonnage totals than the present historic air
transport records in this theater.
Gen. Stilwell's statement was made
as hundreds of thousands of Chinese laborers toiled incessantly to build the
largest airfield ever constructed in China.
The fields which are being
constructed possibly will be used not only as landing grounds for huge cargo
planes from India, but also as bases for long-range attacks on Japan by heavy
bombers.
Chinese Pilots
Bag Eight
CHUNGKING. Feb. 14 (Reuter)—
Chinese fighter planes in a
fierce dogfight shot down eight out of. 21 Jap aircraft which raided Kanhsien, in
the province of Kiangsi this morning.
Wreckage of three of the raiders was found in villages near the city after the
raid. No Chinese planes were lost.
41 Jap Aircraft
KO'd In Heavy
Raid On Rabaul
Attack Climaxes
A Week
Of Intense
Bombing;
Libs Hit New
Ireland
ALLIED HQ.. Southwest Pacific. Feb.
14—-
One of the strongest U.S. air
fleets ever in action in this theater hammered Rabaul's airfields by day,
destroying 32 Jap planes in the air and another nine on the
ground. The attack, climaxing the
Southwest Pacific's most intense week of bombing, followed two heavy blows at Rabaul
48 hours before in which 52 other Jap planes were shot down, and more than 300
tons of bombs dropped by Solomons-based raiders.
In another heavy attack Libs of the
Fifth Air Force struck Kavieng. New Ireland, smashing airfields, runways,
repair shops, and buildings. Ten enemy aircraft probably were destroyed on the
ground.
Two Marshall
Isles Bombed
WASHINGTON. Feb. 14 —
Tokyo radio claimed today that
American warships and planes had been blasting the Marshall Islands of Wotje
and Taroa in attacks similar to those which preceded the landings at Kwaialein.
The Jap report said a task force of
cruisers and destroyers supported by Liberators in the air had been bombarding
the base for the past 48
hours.
No confirmation of the enemy report
has been issued as yet by the Navy Department.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Worm Turns,4-F
Beats
Up 4 Gls
Heckling Him
BELLEVILLE, 111.. Feb.. 14—
Army rejectee Edwin Taylor beat
up three soldiers .and chased away a fourth when the Gls chided him in a song
about 4-Fs. Two of the soldiers ended up in the hospital, including Pvt
Willard Harrell, who as a civilian boxer won 25 of 38 bouts by KOs. "He
didn't hurt me as much as my pride," Harrell said.
___________________________________________________________________________________
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