KEREN BATTLE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 March 1941, Page 5

KEREN BATTLE

BRITISH OPERATIONS DEVELOPING POSITIONS TAKEN SOUTH OF TOWN MORE COUNTER-ATTACKS REPULSED. WITH HEAVY ENEMY LOSS. A Cairo communique transmitted by the 8.8. C. stales that operations round Keren continue to develop favourably. Some positions south ' of the town have been captured and again Italian coun-ter-attacks have been repulsed with heavy loss. The British attack has been supported by intense air activity. The South African Air Force has made successful attacks on motor transport on the Harar Road. The general advance of Allied forces continues in other sectors in Abyssinia. The Italian army in Africa is in dire prospect of being completely cut off from the sea, states the 8.8. C. The only two routes into the interior still open to the Italians are those from Massawa to Keren and from Jibuti to Addis Ababa. The first is almost completely cut off by British operations round Keren and the second is threatened by the capture of Jijiga. DIFFICULT JOB STRENGTH OF THE KEREN DEFENCES. HAND-TO-HAND FIGHTING IN MOUNTAINS. LONDON, March 19. A correspondent describing the fierce fighting 1 around Keren states that British and Indian troops began their combined land and air onslaught on the mountain range surrounding Keren at 7 o'clock in the morning. It was the most difficult job the Indian and British troops had ever been called on to accomplish. Hand-to-hand fighting was going on at the very top of the peaks, sometimes on steep slopes. The artillery gave tremendous support, and the attack began with an intense barrage. The Air Force was carrying out non-stop operations, and all day a stream of bombers and fighters flew overhead to bomb and flew back to reload. The road in the gorge had been blocked by a manufactured landslide, and the Imperial troops were attacking on each side of the roadway. The correspondent’s latest information was that the offensive was going according to plan. The military spokesman m Cairo said that fighting in the Keren area had been severe, and that the Italian counter-attacks had been held. The temperature had risen to 105 degrees, but the health and morale of the Imperial troops were reported to be excellent. The capture of Keren will open the way for a British offensive against Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, which lies some 60 miles to the south-east.