South Yorkshire Times, May 20th, 1944
After a general lull in active land operations, fighting has again broken out in Italy. This time it seems fairly certain that the battle is destined to fit directly into the Allied master plan for the final undoing of Germany. But still the Mediterranean theatre of war provides the first move. The men who have served in the Middle East for any length of time has beyond all doubt done their full share in the fighting. It is a share which deserves to be remembered and handsomely recognised when all accounts have been settled.
These men have met and mastered not only the enemy armies opposed to them but very great physical difficulties. First it was the desert which baulked them several times before General Alexander and General Montgomery led the great coastal drive almost from one end of the Mediterranean to the other. Then the mountains of Tunisia had to be stormed and here the First Army, after a marvellous sea voyage, joined in and in their turn acquired veterans’ skills in the harsh North African school. And so, across the sea again went these indomitable armies. The Sicilian beaches were carried and the men fought their way into Italy itself.
British and American, have filled the inevitable gaps in these conquering ranks, but the centre and spirit of this force, which had done so much to rehabilitate the Allied cause, sorely pressed, and endangered at Dunkirk, remains undiluted. Now, after many hardships and an almost unparalleled series of victorious battle the Central Mediterranean Forces are again giving an inspiring lead to what we hope may develop into the final onslaught on the dark powers which have for so long held Europe in thrall.
Once more they are pitted against nature as well as man. Italy’s mountainous terrain offers great advantages to an army as well versed in the military arts of defence as the Wehrmacht. And in addition to the crags, tortuous valleys and frequent fastnesses the climate has hitherto allied itself also with the defenders. Our men have had to cope with snow, floods, swollen rivers, not to mention a volcanic eruption; a list calculated to chasten the most persistently nurtured offensive spirits. With prospects of improving weather conditions the going is still slow and painful for the attackers. In the circumstances very good progress has been made. French and Polish soldiers are once more prominent in the line of battle and how eagerly they have utilised this long- awaited opportunity. The Poles have hurled themselves with sacrificial valour against some of the most difficult mountain positions and the cream of the German parachute formations.
Nearer the coast the French have irresistibly swarmed up intimidating heights, driving the Nazis before then in an inspiring feat of Allied co-operation which has had a great bearing on the success so far achieved. British and American forces, meanwhile, are steadily gnawing their way into the German positions. The task is formidable, but we know the record of the famous Eighth and First and Fifth Armies too well to entertain for a moment the thought that it is beyond the capacity of these troops. The start of a great enterprise could not have been entrusted to a stauncher set of men.