HEAVY PRESSURE ON DEFENCES

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

HEAVY PRESSURE ON DEFENCES

BRITISH HOLD GAINS LONDON, November 1. The Bth Army has made a further advance and is maintaining its relentless pressure against the German defences. The gains so made, in the coastal region this time, have been held against several counter-attacks. The advance was preceded by a tremendous artillery barrage, more intense even than that with which the offensive opened, the greatest yet seen in the Western Desert. A correspondent describes the Bth Army’s methods. Immense barrages are laid down, he says, and then picked infantry are sent in supported by vast aerial bombardments. Against such strong defences no sudden spectacular results can be expected. The enemy defences are, however, being gradually ground down. , Reporting the latest advance one correspondent says: “Preceded by a heavy artillery barrage on Friday night the Bth Army made a further advance in the coastal region and took German prisoners. Since then it has held its gains against several counter-attacks. It is hard to visualize the nature of the fighting or to appreciate the slow but cumulative effect of these operations that must of necessity form the first phase of the battle. Night after night, in particular, they go on and during the last few days die number of prisoners taken has almost doubled. He describes how a company of British riflemen cut off by the enemy fought a remarkable 36-hour action in which they claim to have knocked out 37 tanks. ALL-NIGHT BARRAGE The Bth Army is like a great bulldozer—a powerful battering ram, punching, threatening, destroying—doing a stiff job, grinding at the opposition, says another observer in Egypt. Our artillery put up a huge all-night barrage again on Friday night. The number of rounds fired ran into astronomical figures. This shelling alone must have been a terrific ordeal for the Axis soldiers. Up behind the falling shells go our infantry. Many fine things in this last seven days will go down in the proudest pages of the infantry regimental histories.

The battle in Egypt raged furiously all yesterday as the Bth Army held its newly won ground in the north sector in the face of fierce counter-attacks. The latest ground captured includes a valuable area overlooking the battlefield. Although no decisive results have been obtained the progress can be regarded as satisfactory. No ground so far captured has been surrendered.

Lieutenant-General Montgomery is wearing down the enemy by sheer weight of shells. No spectacular news is likely at present as it is considered that the task of reducing the enemy’s strong defences may be fairly protracted. The Associated Press of America correspondent on the El Alamein front says that within the first minute of the Allied barrage on Friday night more than 1000 shells fell on an area 5000 yards long and 4000 yards wide. The barrage later reached a rate of 1500 shells a minute.

Reuter’s correspondent, cabling on Saturday, says that the terrific artillery bombardment during Friday night was the signal for another infantry advance which reached its first objectives. The famous infantry units which went into action were still engaged in close and bitter fighting on Saturday morning. They faced a very tough proposition where the enemy had good cover. Thousands of shells rushed throughout the night from scores of guns trained on the enemy forward defences. The barrage, which on Saturday morning still continued, rivalled the gunfire with which the Bth Army’s initial offensive opened. It was the third major artillery concentration in eight nights, all of which have inflicted heavy casualties. British counter batteries knocked out a number of Axis guns which put up only a sporadic reply to the heavy Allied artillery fire. ENEMY CASUALTIES The Germans who are now opposing the Allied infantry, he says, are tougher and better trained than those met earlier, but casualties are believed to be piling up in the enemy front line faster than replacements are arriving. More and more Germans are following the Italians into captivity or are being killed or wounded as the Bth Army advances.

The correspondent reports that the latest German prisoners are men who fought in Greece. According to Berlin radio 80,000 British troops and 200,000 Dominion troops, including French and Greek forces, are participating in the Alamein offensive. Rome radio declares that the present battle in Egypt is the greatest ever fought in Africa. Never before has such an army been seen as the British have built up. Never before have so many mechanized units been used. Never before has the Royal Air Force been more numerous or more efficient. The battle continues with unabated fury, and the British continue to attempt to break through the Axis lines with every means at their disposal.