TO EIGHTH ARMY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 91, 20 July 1943, Page 4

TO EIGHTH ARMY

COMMANDER'S MESSAGE "DRIVE ENEMY INTO THE SEA" A printed copy of the following personal message sent on March 5 by General 13. L. Montgomery to all officers and other ranks of the Eighth Army has been received by Mrs M. E. Conolly, Hill Street, Paeroa, from her son,, Li cut.-Colonel J. Conolly, formerly of Whakatane, who is with the Eighth Army in North Africa. The message read as follows:— EIGHTH ARMY. Personal Message from the Army Commander. 1. On sth March Rommel addressed his troops in the mountains overlooking our positions and said that if they did not take Medenin and forcc the Eighth Army "to withdraw, then the days of the Axis forces in North Africa were, numbered. The next day, March 6, he attacked the Eighth Army. He should have known that, the Eighth Army never withdraws; therefore. his attadii could end only in failure.-— which it did. 2. We will now show Rommel that he was right in the statement he made to his troops. The days of the Axis forces in North Africa are indeed numbered. The Eighth Army and the Western Desert Air Force, together constituting one fighting machine,, are ready to advance. We all know what, that means; and so does the enemy. 3. In the battle that is now to start the. Eighth Army: (a) Will destroy the enemy nowfacing us in the Mareth position. (b) Will burst, through the Gabes Gap. (e) Will then drive northwards on j Sfax, Sousse and finally Tunis. 4. We will not stop, or let up, till Tunis has been captured, and. the enemy Jias either given up the struggle or been pushed into the se35. The operations ncWv about to begin will mark the close of the campaign in North Africa. Once the battle starts the eyes of the world will be on the Eighth Army,, and millions of people will listen to the wireless every day—hoping anxiously for good news. Let us see that they get good news, and plenty of it, every day. If each one of us does his dut.v and pulls his full weight, then nothing can stop the Eighth Army. And nothing will stop it. fi. With faith in God, and in Hie justice of our cause, let us go forward to victory. 7. Forward to Tunis! Drive the enemy into the sea! B. JL. MONTGOMERY, General, G.0.C.-in-C., March. 15)43. Eighth Army.