BATTLE RAGES ALONG COAST

Southland Times, Issue 24891, 3 November 1942, Page 5

BATTLE RAGES ALONG COAST

(United Press Association— Telegraph Copyright) . (Rec. 1.10 a.m.) LONDON, November 2. The Axis forces in the Western Desert have launched an attack against the right flank of the Bth Army, between the railway line to Mersa Matruh and the coast. The British troops were closing a trap on Axis forces along the coast when the attack was launched from the west by enemy infantry, who were joined by tanks. This information was contained in the mid-day communique from Cairo, which also stated that two Axis ships entering Tobruk were attacked by British planes and blew up. The British United Press correspondent with the Sth Army says: “A non-stop battle raged for 30 hours where we on Saturday drove a corridor to the sea by striking northward from a bulge previously driven in the enemy’s lines. We closed the door on a salient about three miles square and were bolting it by throwing in artillery, tanks and anti-tank guns. Before we could push home the wedge German infantry re-opened the western tip by driving along the sea shore. The enemy infantry advanced with the support of heavy mortar fire. The battle rages along three sides of the square.” The Battle of El Alamein has paused and the main forces have disengaged after a week in which full scale action seemed likely at any moment, says Reuter’s Cairo correspondent in a dispatch lodged yesterday morning. The battlefield is strewn with burned out German tanks. The enemy is at present busy organizing strong points to cover any Allied break-through. Our casualties so far do not exceed the estimate. So far approximately 3000 German and Italian prisoners have been taken.