GREAT AREA
COVERED IN THE BATTLE FOR EGYPT NEW ZEALANDERS' PART. WAY SMASHED THROUGH ENEMY CORDON. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Dav, 11.55 a.m.) RUGBY. June 30. The battle in progress between Mersah Matruh and Fuka is described by a 8.8. C. observer on the spot as coving a greater area than any previous concentrated action in the history of the Middle East. When the enemy was engaged by British forces west of Fuka on Sunday, he withdrew, but advanced again and fighting is going on in the same area. New Zealand reinforcements joined other defending forces in the Mersa Matruh area on Friday and took up positions on the high ground surrounding the town. Next morning strong enemy armoured forces moved towards them. From their positions they dealt effectively with these with field guns, anti-tank guns and mortars and flung back five separate attacks. “Our plan,” the observer states, “was to hold the ridge as long as possible and then conform to the general scheme of gradual withdrawal. Meanwhile defending troops further east were preparing positions from which to fight. When the time came, on a moonlit Saturday night, for the British force to withdraw, they found that the enemy had surrounded them with a large number of guns. They decided to fight their way out by cutting a gap in the eastern side of the enemy cordon.
“.In the early hours they made a bayonet charge. Their attack was a surprise and their trucks, running nose to tail in solid column, closely followed the infantry, cut through tank and machine-gun fire. The whole column passed through the enemy and proceeded to new battle positions.” British air activity, the observer reports, has increased in intensity in spite of the continual movement of the battle and the loss of landing grounds. Only by showing the utmost efficiency has the R.A.F. maintained superiority in such difficult conditions.
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 July 1942, Page 4
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316GREAT AREA Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 July 1942, Page 4
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