Show Fifth Army Victor VictorIn In Fight for j Volturno V River American British Troops Hurdle Water Wafer Barriers for Sweeping Advances of Three to Five Miles By Wes Gallagher ALLIED HEADQUARTERS Algiers Oct 19 GW The P-The The battle battle battie bat bat- tle tie of the Volturno river nver has ended in in victory for the Fifth army with the American and British troops crossing the river at all points it was announced Tuesday American troops ps captured five v villages lla on the eastern astern sector of the Fifth army line In a a. sweeping sweeping sweeping sweep sweep- ing advance of from three to five miles Simultaneously B British r i t I 1 s 5 h troops between Capua and the sea swept over the difficult river barrier barrier bar bar- rier ncr at all points on bridges constructed constructed constructed con con- by American engineers At the same time General Sir Bernard L. L Montgomery's Eighth army continued to push back the Germans and captured the towns of Santo Stefano and Montecilfone in their drive from the Adriatic coast The Fifth army push put them theist astride the river where when enemy resistance slackened They captured the villages of Gioia Liberi LIberi LI LI- beri ben Faicchio Pontelatone and Albignano and also near the west coast north of the Vol Vol- The north African air force maintained its battle supremacy hammering at the Germans from front frontone one end of the line to the other but the biggest air news of the day was made by American bomber bomb bomb- er en fleets which blasted the railroad yard at in Yugoslavia on oct the only railroad line running from Belgrade to Athens A middle east air said tha that R It RAF A F heavy bombers had attacked airfields at and Calato in Rhodes Sunday night at Kastel and on Crete and at harbor in the Aegean on the same night Many Obstacles Field Marshal General Albert Kesselring's troops showed signs sign of f weakening in their thelt desperate defense against the east flank of the Fifth army arny line btu the five villages in ro rough mountain c coun country un- un try had to be taken by bitter hard hard- won infantry advances American troops encountered numerous valleys and streams in their advance and crossed the Tierno Tierno Tier- Tier no a tributary of the Volturno at least at one spot As military spokesmen told of the American gains word was flashed from the Fifth army that all the British troops between Capua and the sea had crossed the Volturno Some of the hardest fighting of the day came on the Eighth army front when Santo Stefano was cap cap- Lured The Germans launched a number of severe counterattacks that were beaten back The capture capture cap cap- ture Lure of the town represented x a. gain rain of about four miles I Nazis azis Use Artillery Montgomery's troops had en entered entered en- en ered Montecilfone Sunday were driven out in street fighting but came ame back to tak take the town Official reports said that the Germans were depending largely on Sn machine guns and artillery in their heir defensive stands The Fifth army won virtually full ull control of the pocket formed ay by y the northwestward bend of the Volturno above its confluence with the be Calore Galore river Faicchio on the Tierno is some six ix miles mUes northeast of Ruviano Ru captured Sunday and Gioia Imore li is limore more none than two miles mUes farther northwest north north- west vest Seizure of Alvignano put lieutenant General Mark Clarks Clark forces 7 4 miles above the Volturno Vol Vol- Volume ume urno northeast of Capua Libert and nd Pontelatone lie in this s e earea area rca fh fhe e and nd four miles above the river iver river D Dispatches from the Fifth army singled out the Japanese American troops from Hawaii saying they had ad given an ex excellent ellent account sf of f themselves in the recent fight- fight ing ng ag y The allied advance is expected to toC tobe be DC C slow and difficult in the coming weeks reeks due to increasing rams rains andie and the he mountains Towns such as ressa had be been n leveled le by fierce fighting to force the river The tactical air force maintained supremacy Jn In the skies walloping nazi communication lines ines nes north of Naples at will despite de- de spite pite ite bad weather and raiding 12 enemy nemy Airfields iii-fields in the Rome area wrecking reeking many planes aground |