INCH BY INCH

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 30, 30 October 1942, Page 5

INCH BY INCH

British Advance In Egypt

TANKS MANOEUVRE

(By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Received October 29. 1 1.30 p.m.) LONDON, October 28. The pattern of today’s brief news from the Egyptian fighting remains broadly the same as the last few days—the Eighth Army, with the heaviest artillery support so far produced, is moviiis; forward inch by inch in the face of stubborn resistance from the enemy's well-prepared positions, the British United Press correspondent with the Eighth Army says. Field-Marshal Rommel has a strong screen of 88mm. guns behind which is grouped the main weight of his armour. The screen of artillery must be breached frontally or turned by a flanking move. Neither alternative is easy.

Our sappers are toiling at the task of cleaning up enemy minefields to give our armoured supply vehicles room to (manoeuvre and disperse. Meanwhile, Italian and German sappers are equally busy sowing new minefields to plug threatening gaps and slow up our progress generally. Yesterday’s tank battle developed after Rommel threw tanks against the positions we had captured on the previous night. The infantry held on and enabled our tanks to come up and drive the Germans off. It was not an all-out armoured engagement, but headquarters states that the Germans received a substantial blow. The clash occurred at the point where we achieved the deepest penetration. Widening Corridor. Keuter’s Cairo correspondent says that the fact that a tank clash occurred indicated that the corridor driven into the enemy’s front has been sufficiently widened to permit tank manoeuvres. This is, perhaps, the beginning of the second phase— a phase in which the threat to sections of the enemy line forces him to armoured combat.

Progress may seem slow and information meagre, but the wave of our attack daily washes a little further up the enemy beach. Berlin radio says that enemy bomber formations have been coming over for days in parade formation without deviating an inch, surrounded by swarms of fighters which hover in the air like bees. We have never seen such a picture.

Mopping Up Strongpoints. The Eighth Army has advanced beyond a number of Axis strongpoints and is busy mopping up others. Hard fighting is raging among strong Axis forward defences, with the Eighth Army steadily improving its penetration and the general position, correspondents say, writing “from west of the El Alamein. line.” Front-line dispatches from British correspondents declare that the Eighth Army’s first-line infantry are in the best of heart. They have suffered casualties in grim fighting, but the opposition is not worse than was expected. The Eighth Army’s artillery had prepared the way with a tremendous barrage, the intensity of which must have shocked the Axis forces, and our field guns have maintained supremacy ever since. All Allied arms are full of spirit, despite the fact that they have bad only a few hours of sleep. Reuter’s correspondent with the Eighth Army says; “This cheerfulness, with good leadership in tough spots—a common feature where I have been —will, open the way for the next important phase on the most favourable terms possible.” A correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain reports that the Eighth Army is continuing to take prisoners, all the correspondents commenting on the deadliness of the Allies' heavy and continuous barrage, which has been maintained since the battle began. It is not yet possible to give accurate figures of the Axis tank casualties, but according to all reports they are considerable. The R.A.F. co-operation continues as strong as ever. The Axis air forces formed up yesterday for a counter-attack, but ‘the R.A.F. swept in and gave the concentration all it had, and the counter-attack did not materialise.

FURIOUS, BITTER AND BLOODY

LONDON, October 28. Late 'this afternoon Borne radio said that General Montgomery was continuing to throw in new and powerful forces against the Axis positions in the El Alamein sector. All the Axis reports refer to the fierce nature of the fighting. Berlin radio declared: “The lighting in the Battle of El Alamein is furious, bitter and bloody.” A German communique says that heavy and successful defensive fighting continues in the El Alamein positions, with bitter infantry and armoured fighting, particularly in the northern sector.

Later Berlin radio, quoting the official news agerfcy, declared that the Eighth Army gained “slight local advantages” as a result of the fighting on the northern El Alamein front yesterday. It added that the British had •aptured a height which was “important for artillery observation” and were advancing on a front of •about two and a half miles. “German and Italian forces toward evening counter-attached and threw the British from this height. The Axis front still holds, firm and unbroken, from Quattara to the Mediter- ' ranean,” it stated. “The battle on the northern wing was resumed with full violence this morning, while the centtral and southern sector were comparatively quiet.” The Italian communique was largely a repetition of the German, but'it claimed the destruction or capture of 53 tanks and also claimed that 22 British planes were shot down for the loss of five Axis planes. SOVIET OBSERVERS LONDON, October 28.

The Paris radio reported that a Russian military mission has-arrived in Egypt.

AXIS LIE LONDON, October 28. Rome radio and Paris radio yesterday broadcast a report that a plane which was carrying General Alexander was shot down on the Egyptian front and crashed among British -troops, and General Alexander was extricated severely injured. There is no truth in this report, which was apparently issued for propaganda; purposes, *