HIGHLANDERS IN ACTION

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

HIGHLANDERS IN ACTION

OBJECTIVES TAKEN AT BAYONET POINT

(Rec. 8.30 p.m.) LONDON, October 25. The British United Press special correspondent attached to the 51st (Highland) Division which was in action for the first time since it was reformed after the fighting in France, states that the skirl of bagpipes early on Friday night was suddenly drowned by the biggest blast ever heard in the desert as the British barrage opened up. “As we headed for the starting lines the clamour became deafening,” he said. “Hundreds of tanks roared from their places of concealment. Their tracks churned up choking sand as they swept into the battle. The tanks launched the most terrifying hammer blows the Germans and Italians have ever sustained in Egypt. “German and Italian prisoners soon began trudging back through No Man’s Land. The Highlanders advanced quickly and took many of their objectives at the bayonet point. I have never seen the Allies go to it with such dour drive, such co-ordination of effort and meticulous timing. A new spirit seems to inspire this offensive. I walked nearly five miles with the Highlanders and was one of the last into the German lines. We passed through two mine-fields, but there were still others and the wire protecting the main enemy positions.” The German radio says the Bth Army today continued to attack the German and Italian positions on the Alamein front with strong forces of tanks and infantry. All the attacks failed, the area in. front of the Axis lines being covered with destroyed and burning tanks. Despite its heavy losses the Bth Army has considerable reserves in the rear and it can be assumed that the attacks will continue. MANY NATIONALITIES The correspondent of the Independent French Agency at Cairo reports that English, New Zealand, Australian, South African, Indian, Fighting French and Greek troops are among the Allied units engaged in the Bth Army’s offensive. An Italian communique states: “After intense artillery preparation the British attacked .the northern and southern sectors of the Alamein front with considerable armoured and infantry forces. We repulsed the enemy everywhere, inflicting considerable losses, especially in armoured vehicles, of which 47 were destroyed. The battle continues. Powerful Royal Air Force formations supported the British land forces. Twenty enemy planes were shot down. We sank an enemy destroyer in the Eastern Mediterranean. The Royal Air Force carried out raids against major and minor centres in Lombardy and Piedmont on Saturday afternoon and night. Incendiaries last night caused great damage in Milan, Monza and Novara (west of Milan). Civilian buildings suffered in the suburbs of Milan. Forty-eight persons were killed and 254 were injured in Milan and 55 were killed and 67 injured in Savona on Saturday night, when 39 were killed and 109 injured in Genoa.” GERMAN CLAIMS The German communique repeats the Italian version of the fighting. The German News Agency says the expected British success in the initial attack was not fulfilled. About half of the 150 tanks so far thrown in were destroyed by land mines and fire from 8.8 inch guns. The few breaches made in the Italian and German positions were repaired by a powerful counter-thrust. The Axis forces on the central Alamein front were not needed in the action and the whole German-Italian front-line here, including the minefields, remained in the firm hands of