HUGE STRIKING FORCE

Southland Times, Issue 24885, 27 October 1942, Page 5

HUGE STRIKING FORCE

Terrific Barrage

(Rec. 7.30 p.m.) LONDON, October 25. Lieutenant-General Montgomery is throwing the greatest striking force against the enemy of any battle in three years of warfare in North Africa, says the correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain in the Western Desert.

The correspondent says the barrage which opened the way for the infantry began in brilliant moonlight at 9.40 p.m. on Friday on a scale unprecedented in the desert. Shells screamed down upon the Axis positions without cessation all night. The guns gave way only at dawn when the Air Striking Force took up the strafing on an equally heavy scale. Literally hundreds of guns gave the enemy the first warning that the Allied attack had begun and within a few minutes Allied units started to push forward. The artillery then concentrated on a mine-field where the infantry were ordered to break through. As soon as the barrage moved westward the infantry moved in close and knocked out the Axis forward positions one after another. Allied bombing enabled the infantry to advance without great opposition from the enemy heavy guns. Allied armoured units all night did not make contact with the enemy tanks. When the first squadrons took the air at dawn they found the battlefield smoking from countless fires lighted by night bombers, which scored direct hits on field guns, ammunition dumps, tents and lorries. Many antiaircraft batteries had been silenced. By the end of the night attacks there was no more anti-aircraft fire. , HEAVY ARTILLERY FIRE So intense was the concentration of artillery fire that the enemy found difficulty in spotting the flashes of the Allied guns, says Reuters Western Desert correspondent. It was fully 10 minutes before the enemy started counter-artillery fire, which was far inferior to the usual German performances. Despite the heavy going the infantry reached its first objective four minutes ahead of schedule. The Bth Army, fortified by the knowledge of its great new power, is fighting in the highest morale—not in light spirits, but sturdily, calmly and determinedly. Some men sang lustily as they went into battle. Scottish armoured car crews raised cheerful voices referring to “Loch Lomond.” A correspondent with the South Africans reports that the South Africans gained all their objectives after overcoming stiff resistance from the enemy, who earlier appeared momentarily to be taken off his guard. The South Africans on Saturday afternoon consolidated their gains according to plan. The South Africans captured both Italian and German prisoners, a high proportion of whom were wounded by shell splinters. The South Africans also found a large number killed in the shattering bombardment, their positions strewn with wrecked guns and vehicles and their dug-outs blasted. FIRST PHASE ACCOMPLISHED The military correspondent of The Times says: “It is evident from our own and enemy reports that the Allies have accomplished the preliminary phase of opening defiles through the Axis mine-fields. The second phase began with the penetration of the enemy’s positions at certain points. Further strong obstacles lie ahead and the enemy’s armoured forces are ready to exact a fearful penalty for rashness or error. The battle is likely to assume a hard, slogging character and the enemy’s defeat will prove a hard task.”