GREAT ADVANCE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 169, 20 July 1942, Page 3

GREAT ADVANCE

DOMINION INFANTRY

Many Enemy Prisoners Taken

In Action

(N.Z.E.F. Offlcial War Correspondent)

CAIRO, July 17.

The first news of the New Zealanders' part in the battle which now rages in the central El Alamein sector was brought to Cairo in the early hours of this morning by a New Zealand dispatch rider, who arrived with a story from the New Zealand radio commentator. The New Zealanders have been engaged in one of their largest and most fiercely launched infantry attacks of the war in Egypt, says the story. Moving north-west to the central sector of the El Alamein area, they fought a way to an objective against heavily armed and greatly superior enemy forces. During the day and in the afternoon our artillery went into action. The evening was comparatively quiet and by nine o'clock our infantry were in position along the start line.

"We walked for three hours with bayonets fixed without meeting any serious opposition," said one New Zealand infantryman. "A flare burst away from us on the left, then another on the right, but we lay close to the ground unobserved. A third flare floated out above us, and enemy fire was immediately directed on the whole line of the advance." Full-scale Attack It is described as the most intense concentration of automatic and heavy weapon fire yet encountered. The Italians had their guns scientifically laid. But the New Zealanders went at it with machine-gun, Tommy gun, Bren gun and bayonet. It was a full-scale infantry attack. The enemy put up a sharp resistance. Nothing could stop the New Zealanders, and the gun posts— machine-gun and anti-tank—which were used against our infantry were vigorously attacked. Eighty-eight millimetre guns were brought against the attackers and bursts of indiscriminate shelling added to the enemy defence. The New Zealanders pressed on against this powerfully - armed enemy. Except for platoon and company reformation as each successive point was taken, the fighting was continuous for three solid hours. By that time the New Zealanders had penetrated massed infantry and heavy weapon opposition to a depth of three miles. Eight hundred yards is considered a reasonable limit of an infantry night advance against defence forces, but these men were in a most resolute mood. They could not wait where there was yet an objective ahead. Attack on Tanks Elements of one battalion reached the larger of the German tanks. The nearest was put out of action by firing a Tommy gun down the slits. It was plastered with hand grenades. Tanks sculled around and swept away from the path of the New Zealanders in their surprise. Generally, the whole line of the advance was on its objective by the morning. Swiftness and vigour of the attack had left behind many pockets of enemy resistance, which held out stubbornly during the day. They were the subject of a heavy attack in the consequent redispos'ition of forces.

As infantry, the New Zealanders achieved their full objective in what must count as one of New Zealand's greatest and most courageous engagements. That the great infantry advance could not be consolidated is just another example of the uncertainty of desert warfare. But their victory remains, and the line of prisoners testifies to it.