EL ALEMEIN ATTACK

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 40, 19 January 1943, Page 4

EL ALEMEIN ATTACK

WOUNDED MEN'S STORIES Men who took part, in the early stages of the Eighth Army's push at El Alamein and have now returned wounded to the Dominion are loud in praise of the support given by the Allied air forces in the batt\e. "We seldom saw a Jerry," said one of th- men. "but we saw. squadron after squadron of our own pianes passing to and fro overhead a.« i.hey carried out strafing attacks 011 the enemy. We used to count the number in the squadrons as they went forward, and counted them again on the way back. They told us they were encountering little effective opposition in their work.''' Another man said that the position in the air had been greatly aided by a useful happening a week or so before the attack. The German 1 aerodromes had been drenched with rain and their planes bogged, down. While they were in this condition they were caught by our bombers, working from better cared for aero-» dromes, and smashed up. It. was probable, the soldieer said, that reports of large numbers of aeroplanes found by the advancing troops on landing grounds captured from the enemy, told of the aero* j planes destroyed under these eondi- | t,ions. ■ ■ "The American Sherman tanks are honeys," said another returned man. "They are much better than the General Grants and have been den ing some wonderful work.'" The same man, an anti-tank gunner, said the organisation of the attack was excellent. The noise made by the artiKery in the barrage which opened the attack, he says, was terrific. Anyone who was not there could not, imagine the din of the 800 or so guns in action. "Our battery," he said, "advanced through the gun lines as they were firing, and they were magnificent to watch."