TO EIGHTH ARMY

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 3289, 16 July 1943, Page 6

TO EIGHTH ARMY

COMMANDER’S MESSAGE COPY RECEIVED IN PAEROA “DRIVE ENEMY INTO THE SEA” A printed copy of the following personal message sent on March 5 by General B. 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, Lieut.-Colonel J. Conolly, 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 force 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 attack could end only in failure—which it did. 2. We will now show Rommel that he was right in the statement he made

I to his troops. The days of the Axis forces in North Africa are indeed numbered. The Eighth A*rmy and the Western Desert Air Force, togethei- 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 now facing us in the Mareth position, (b) Will burst through the Gabes Gap, (c) Will then drive northwards on ■Sfax, Sousse and finally Tunis. 4. We will not stop, or let up, till Tunis has been captured, and the enemy has either given up the struggle of been pushed into'the sea. 5. The operations now 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. We must not let them be anxious. Let us see that they get good news, and plenty of it, every day. If each one of us d>es his duty and pulls his full weight, then nothing can stop the Eighth Army. And nothing will stop it. 6. With faith in God, and in the justice of our cause, let us go forward to victory. 7. Forward to Tunis! Drive the enemy into the Sea! B. L. MONTGOMERY, General, G.0.C.-in-C., March, 1943. Eighth Army.