The Brooklyn Eagle (June 5, 1944)
Nazi forces fleeing toward new lines
By Robert V. Vermillion
Bulletin
The London radio said Pope Pius appeared on the balcony of St. Peter’s today as crowds cheered and Allied troops marched through Rome.
Allied HQ, Naples, Italy (UP) –
The 5th Army completed the occupation of Rome, the first Axis-held capital in Europe to be liberated, and swept on without pause across the Tiber River today in close pursuit of German forces fleeing in disorder toward a new defense line possibly 150 miles to the north.
U.S. tank and infantry vanguards were already streaming north of Rome under orders to annihilate the enemy armies when Allied headquarters announced the triumphant liberation of the religious capital of the world in a special communiqué on the 271st day of the Italian campaign.
The communiqué said:
Troops of the 5th Army occupied Rome on the night of June 4-5. Leading elements have passed through the city and are across the Tiber in some places.
Adolf Hitler was reported, by the official German news agency DNB, to have ordered his forces to withdraw northwest of Rome to avoid drawing the ancient capital into the battle area. The clandestine Radio Atlantic said the Germans were rushing three divisions from southern France and two others from northern Italy in an attempt to stem the Allied tide.
Clark: ‘A stepping stone’
Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark, commander of the 5th Army, called the fall of Rome a “stepping stone toward the complete surrender of Germany” in a message to a savings group committee in London.
Despite the Nazi declaration of Rome as an open city, German tanks, machine gunners and snipers offered sporadic resistance throughout the ancient capital yesterday and last night in an attempt to delay the Allied advance, which covered more than 15 miles in the final 24 hours.
Allied fighters and fighter-bombers swarmed out ahead of the advancing ground forces and rained a steady hail of bullets and bombs on retreating German tanks, trucks and other vehicles clogging roads almost bumper to bumper as far north as Lake Bolsena, 50 miles above Rome. At least 600 tanks and other vehicles were destroyed or damaged yesterday alone.
The increasing destruction of the enemy’s transport, his lack of adequate reserves and the overwhelming numerical and armored superiority of the Allies raised hopes here that the 5th Army may be able to overtake and destroy a considerable portion of the retreating forces before they reach their next fortified line hinged on Florence and stretching across the narrowest part of the upper Italian peninsula.
Bomb roads north of Rome
Allied planes also bombed highways and bridges north of Rome in a further effort to stall the enemy retreat. Pilots reported German dead were visible along the roadside beside their wrecked and burning vehicles.
Some elements of the 5th Army bypassed Rome from the east in their race to cut off the German withdrawal, while other forces to the southwest were nearing the mouth of the Tiber River.
All the Colli Laziale – the Alban Hills – between the Via Casilina and the Appian Way southeast of Rome were under Allied “control,” an official spokesman said, with the enemy survivors fleeing toward the Tiber estuary. Northeast of Via Casilina, the Army occupied Palestrina and Cave, five and three miles, respectively, above Valmontone.
Nazis threatened with capture
Thousands of German troops, both southeast and southwest of Rome, appeared in imminent danger of death or capture as a result of the sudden collapse of enemy resistance immediately below the capital. German prisoners captured since the start of the current offensive May 12 already exceed 20,000.
The enemy’s plight was further increased by the supposed severing of the only bridge across the Tiber west of Rome in an RAF raid Saturday night.
The British 8th Army, meanwhile, struck deep into the enemy’s flank in the Sacco River and Liri River valleys, capturing Paliano, eight and a half miles northeast of Valmontone and nearly 13 miles northwest of Ferentino; Fiuggi, eight miles north of Ferentino, and Guarcino, eight miles northeast of Ferentino.
Enter city at two points
U.S. reconnaissance elements of the 5th Army pushing along the Via Casilina first entered the southeastern outskirts of Rome at two points at 8:00 and 9:00 a.m. (local time) respectively yesterday and a few hours later reached the official city limits.
One American force met stiff resistance at the outskirts, principally from the Hermann Göring Division, after an eight-mile advance, but other elements severed Highway 5 at the northeastern entrance to the city and then cleared the outskirts toward the southeast without too much difficulty.
While British elements of the 5th Army on the left flank crossed Riotorto and drove to within six miles of the Tiber, a U.S. column rolling down the hills from the Colli Laziale captured Grottaferrata and Marino, northeast of Lake Albano; Genzano, on the west shore of Lake Nemi, and other points.
Presumably overrun in the advance were Castel Gandolfo. site of the Pope’s Summer home, and Frascati, the former German headquarters town.
U.S. entry announced
The American entry into the Rome city limits was announced by Allied headquarters in a special communiqué shortly after 9:00 (2:00 p.m. EWT) last night, which said sporadic resistance was being encountered from German rearguards.
But it was obvious even then that the complete liberation of the city was only a matter of hours and Gen. Sir Harold R. L. G. Alexander, Allied commander in Italy, joined with Premier Marshal Pietro Badoglio of the Italian government in a plea to the population to facilitate the Allied passage through the capital “in order to continue the destruction of the German armies farther north.”
Clark holds fire
The final battle for Rome was fought in the six miles of suburbs stretching along either side of the Via Casilina to the southeastern rim of the city itself.
The Americans had broken through the enemy’s tough Alban Hill defenses flanking the Via Casilina and had anticipated an easy thrust across the Campagna Plain into Rome, but instead found German tanks, self-propelled guns, machine-gun nests and mortar positions barring their path.
Clark arrived at the scene soon after vanguards entered the and ordered the Allies to hold their fire for three hours to give the enemy a chance to withdraw from the approaches to the Holy City.
When the Germans still held to their positions, Clark gave the order to fire at 11:00 a.m. and artillery and tanks sent a heavy barrage crashing into the outskirts. A tank battle broke out, but the enemy soon wavered and broke, and the triumphal march was on.