U.S. bombers smash at Crete; new drive in east foreseen
Isle on path to Greece is battered
Cairo, Egypt (UP) –
U.S. heavy bombers smashed the Maleme Airdrome on the island of Crete in daylight yesterday and attacked Taormina and Comiso on Sicily, a communiqué said today.
The attack on Maleme on Crete, often called an invasion stepping stone to Greece, heavily damaged sheds and grounded aircraft.
London dispatches speculated that other blows against the European fortress soon would follow the invasion of Sicily. The attack on Crete and a new order closing the Syrian border with Turkey, presumably to guard military movements by Allied troops, centered attention on the Eastern Mediterranean.
In the attack on Sicily, U.S. heavy bombers hit the headquarters of the general post office at Taormina, 30 miles southwest of Messina, and battered the Sicilian air base of Comiso.
Aerial resistance increased
Allied HQ, North Africa (UP) –
A communiqué from Gen. Eisenhower’s headquarters today said the Allied air forces “continued their heavy attack” with good results on Sicilian airfields and “vital points” in the enemy defense system during Thursday night and Friday.
The communiqué said:
Enemy resistance was on a slightly increased scale, and during air battles we shot down 15 Axis aircraft. Ten of our aircraft failed to return.
Hint at other blows
London, England (UP) –
British military observers hinted strongly today that the Allied invasion of Sicily may be followed quickly by other and possibly more important landings around the northern rim of the Mediterranean.
With apparently intentional vagueness, informants asserted that the Sicilian operation should not be regarded as “the only landing or even the (capital) landing.”
Informants described the invasion as an “operation in force” which, according to latest reports reaching London, is “going according to plan.”
On the basis of the scanty reports available, military observers said, heavy and difficult fighting is expected before the invasion force succeeds in establishing firm bridgeheads.
Apparently because other operations may be impending, these observers were reluctant to describe the Sicilian attack as the opening of a “second front.”
Axis force put at 400,000
An estimated 300,000 Italian troops plus 100,000 Germans, including a division of combat troops and Luftwaffe units, are defending Sicily, it was believed.
The Italian forces included the Italian 6th Army, commanded by Gen. Alfredo Guzzoni, formerly Deputy Chief of Staff and Undersecretary of War, military observers reported. They include units especially trained for coastal defense.
Unofficial estimates set the bombload dropped on Sicily in the last two months of concentrated Allied air attack at approximately 5,000 tons. Several airfields were believed to have been knocked out by this softening-up process.
The observers set the Axis air strength in Italy at about 500 German fighters and 800 German bombers, supported by 1,500 German planes of doubtful quality.