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John Proudfoot, commentator with the war time National Broadcasting Service Mobile Unit in Italy, sends a despatch from the Senio river area.
[He greets the BBC at the start of his report, which may have also been broadcast by them.]
This is a report made during Allied action against German positions on the Senio River's northern stop bank. The sounds of explosions. aircraft and gunfire can be heard in the background during the commentary.
The Allies Desert Airforce as well as aircraft from many of the Empire's airforces and the United States are taking part in the systematic attack against enemy headquarters and defence positions. The scale of the attack is enormous. The bombs are detonating many of the enemy mines which were known to have been buried in the area.
He ends by saying he hopes he will soon be able to report the success of this operation from the enemy side of the Senio River.
[Proudfoot records several attempts to close his report, but is forced to stop frequently due to very loud explosions drowning out his words.]
John Proudfoot comments on lessons learnt from Cassino: heavy bombs from the air can break up the land too much for subsequent ground troop movement, so today smaller bombs are being used which will only cause small craters. In addition, at Cassino a tragic mistake resulted in bombs being dropped on our own troops, so today clear ground markings are being used to avoid a repeat of this. [This last segment was marked 'Not for Broadcast" by the military censor.]