The White Falcon - 01.04.1944, Side 2

2
Battle For Cassino Teaches American Soldiers
Many Lessons; Caves Big Problem At Present
Warring: Fronts
Nothing better typifies the tac-
tics of the Cassino battle than
the unpleasant discovery that the
foyer of the Continental Hotel
was held by two German tanks,
well dug in. They constituted a
strong point which gave New
Zealand troops infiltrating into
the town one of their toughest
jobs.
Not a great deal of the Con-
tinental’s foyer remained, but the
huge piles of wreckage and rub-
ble merely added to the obstacles
facing the tanks. Enemy guns,
firing through the broad arches
that had been windows, covered
all approaches to the hotel. Ap-
parently these guns had been lo-
cated there since early in the
fight, but the Germans did not
unmask them until the New Zea-
landers began applying strong
pressure to nearby strongpoints.
The New Zealander’s push into
Cassino came in the wake of the
heaviest bombardment ever dir-
ected against such a concentrat-
ed target.That the deluge of shells
and aerial bombs did not utterly
obliterate German defenses is a
testimonial to the fortress
strength of this European town.
Held by determined troops, such
places seem susceptible only to
an attack formula that includes
yard-by-yard Infantry fighting.
Also demonstrated at Cassino
was the enemy’s skill in pulling
his troops out from under a pre-
liminary bombardment and get-
ting them back into position be-
fore the attacker can follow up
with Infantry. An assortment of
planes that included 400 Fortress-
es and Liberators, flew 4,000 sort-
ies in four hours and dropped
3,500 tons of bombs. When the
planes had finished, Allied artil-
lery opened. Guns ranging from
Masons To Hold
Meeting Monday
The Allied Masonic Club of Ice-
land will hold its third meeting
Monday night at 2000 hours at
the Main Rec Center in Reykja-
vik. All Masons of the Armed
Forces are invited to attend.
Officers of the club are Pfc.
Wadsworth Jones, President;
MM 3/c Joseph Greenberg, Sec-
retary; and 1/Sgt, Albert Moth
R.G.A.F., Vice President,
British 10-pounders up to Amer-
ican 240-millimeters put down a
barrage described as 40 percent
heavier than the tremendous one
that made artillery history at the
battle of El Alamein. While all
this went on, the Fifth Army men
who had been holding about a
fourth of Cassino were with-
drawn 1,000 yards.
At the end of the bombardment,'
New Zealand and Indian troops
were pushed into the town, but
they didn’t find it empty. The
Germans were there and were
still fighting doggedly. Aiding the
enemy in hanging on despite the
deluge of explosives was the fact
that the towering hills against
Reports of chivalry in World
War II haven’t been numerous.
However, a story of such an oc-
currence found its way into the
news this week from the Anzio
Beachhead below Rome.
A British unit had captured a
ridge held by 150 Germans and
was preparing to send its wound-
ed to a nearby farmhouse. The
first British medical orderly to.
reach the building found the
wounded already being tended by
a white-smocked orderly. Feeling
that something was not just right,
the Britisher politely asked the
man for his identity card and
discovered that the stranger was
a German.
The British soldier accepted
Monkey Business
Grounds For Divorce
As a result of too much mon-
key business—in a literal sense—
Mrs. Florence C. Meyers of Chi-
cago asked for a divorce. She
charged that her husband, Wil-
bur, who earns his living by
street performances of a monkey
and a dog, insisted upon having
the monkey and the dog eat at
the family table.
Remember Benito?
The German radio reported this
week that Adolf Hitler had sent
a telegram to Benito Mussolini
on the occasion of the 25th anni-
versary of the founding of the
Fascist party.
which Cassino nestles are honey-
combed with caves and tunnels
into which the defenders could
temporarily retire. Many great
caves have existed there for cent-
uries, and it is believed that the
Germans linked and enlarged this
ground system both for shelter
and for secret movement of
troops between strongpoints on
the hills.
Nevertheless, the Fifth Army
managed to take over most of the
town before the week was out,
and by reason of the work of
American engineers in improving
Rapido River crossings, Allied
tanks were getting into action
in ever-increasing strength.
the situation without comment
and went about installing his
wounded in the farmhouse. The
unusual set-up ended when an
enemy armed patrol came up and
removed the German wounded
and British jeeps raced up to take
away their men.
Neither side did any firing.
Falcon Flies
Early Next Week
The next issue of the White
Falcon will appear on Wednes-
day, April 5. The usual Saturday
date of publication had to be
moved up because of a general
Icelandic Easter holiday the lat-
ter half of the week. Along with
Wednesday’s Falcon will be dist-
ributed the monthly comic sup-
plement.
Birds Give ‘Bird’
Walter E. Reissen, 34, of Belle-
ville, Ill., had a good plan, but
his two pigeons crossed him up.
Reissen took along to his induc-
tion center his two pigeons, Al-
ice and Helen; he planned to re-
lease the birds after he had been
examined so they could carry
word back to his family whether
he was accepted or rejected.
However, when the time came,
both Helen and Alice refused, to
fly, so Reissen had to telephone
his wife that he was in the Army,
Russia
Powerful units of the Red Ar-
my this week knifed their way
across the muddy banks of the
Prut River in the southern sector
of the eastern front 'and swept
into Cernauti, the gateway of
the Balkans.
With Cernauti in Russian
hands, the Red Army now has
a front in this area which stretch-
es for a distance of approximate-
ly 700 miles, the points being
from Cernauti, the capital of
Bucovina, a province in Rumania,
to Jassey on the western bank
of the lower part of the Prut
River.
Meanwhile, in the central por-
tion, Marshal Zhukov’s forces
have plunged two long salients
toward the border of Czechoslo-
vakia, one now within 25 miles
from the town of Stanislavov, lo-
cated on the northern side of the
Carpathian Mountains in old Po-
land, and the other stretching
to Kolomyja, 15 miles from the
southeastern end of Czechoslo-
vakia.
Italy
Allied medium and heavy bom-
bers this week pounded Sofia,
the capital of Bulgaria. Large
formations of escorted giant
British and American planes
blasted railway yards and enemy
military installations.
In German-held Italy, Turin,,
Bolzano and Milan were hit hard.
The land fighting saw only ar-
tillery exchanges which were light
on both sides. In the Cassino sec-
tor, mortar and artillery fire is
continuing day and night, but.
no other action is reported.
Bombings
The Allied bomber command
this week stated that targets 15
miles east of Paris at Vaires were
hit. Smaller attacks were made
on Lyons and Kiel with only one
bomber missing.
American heavy bombers at-
tacked Brunswick in Germany
and according to late details, the
Germans lost a total of 48 pEanfiS-
Pacific
American and British airmen
continue to lash out strongly at
Jap-held island outposts. In the
central Pacific, U.S. Naval air-
men hit Pakin Island, 18 miles-
northwest of Ponape, which is
a protecting base for the Japan-
ese Pacific bastion of the Truk
Islands.
Allied airmen also mauled Ka-
vieng, Timor, Bobo and Rabaul-
In Burma, the Chinese troops
have cut the Jap-held main road
through the Mogaung Valley, thus
establishing a roadblock and in>
turn capturing the strategic town
of Laban.
Story Of Chivalry