FIRST WARNING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 October 1942, Page 3

FIRST WARNING

GIVEN BY HUNDREDS OF GUNS GREATEST STRIKING FORCE. YET EMPLOYED IN NORTH AFRICA. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, October 25. Lieutenant-General Montgomery is throwing the greatest striking force against the enemy of any battle in the three years of warfare in North Africa, says the Associated Press correspondent in the Western Desert. The correspondent says that the barrage Which opened the way for the infantry began in brilliant moonlight at 9.40 p.m. on Friday on a scale that was unprecedented in the desert. Shells screamed down upon the Axis positions without cessation all night, and the guns gave way only at dawn, when the air striking force took up, strafing on an equally heavy scale. Literally hundreds of guns gave the enemy the first warning that the Allied attack had begun. Within a few minutes Allied units started to push forward and the artillery then concentrated on the minefield, where the infantry were ordered to break through as soon as the barrage moved westward. The infantry moved in close and knocked out Axis forward positions one after another. The Allied bombing enabled the infantry to advance without great opposition from enemy heavy guns. The Allied armoured units all night did not contact enemy tanks When the first squadrons took the air at dawn they found the battlefield smoking from the countless fires lighted by the night bombers, which had scored direct hits on field guns, ammunition dumps, tents, and lorries. Many anti-aircraft batteries were silenced by the end of the night attacks, and there Was no more flak.

ARMY IN GOOD HEART. So intense was the concentration of artillery fire that the enemy found difficulty in spotting the flashes of Allied guns, says Reuter’s Western Desert correspondent. It was fully 10 minutes before the enemy started counter ai 1 tillcry fire, which was far inferior to the usual German performances. In spite of the heavy going, the infantry reached the first objective four minutes ahead of schedule. The Eighth Aimy, fortified by the knowledge of its great new power, is fighting in the highest morale —not light spirits, but stuidily, calmly and determinedly. Some men sang lustily as they went into battle and Scottish armoured car crews raised cheerful voices in “Loch Lomond. A correspondent with the South Alricans reports that the South Africans gained all their objectives after overcoming stiff resistance from the enemy, who earlier appeared momentarily taken off his guard. The South Africans yesterday afternoon consolidated then gains according to plan. They had captured both Italian and German prisoners, a high Proportion of whom were wounded by shell splinters. Th South Africans also found a large number of the enemy killed in the shattei - ing bombardment, and their positions strewn with wrecked guns and vehicles and the dugouts blasted.

HIGHLANDERS’ DOUR DRIVE. A special correspondent of the British United Press attached to the 51st Highland Division, which is in action for the first time since it reformed alter fighting in France, states that the skirl of bagpipes early on Friday night was suddenly drowned by the bigges blast ever heard in the desert as the British barrage opened up. As we headed for the starting lines the clamour became deafening. Hundreds oi tanks roared from places of concealment, and their tracks churned up a choking sandstorm as tney swept into “The tanks launched the most terrifying hammer blows the Geiman 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 objectives at the bayonet-point. I have never seen the Allies go to it with such dou drive, such co-ordination, and meticulous timing. A new spirit to msnire this offensive. I have waikecr nearly five miles with the Highlanders the last two into the G ? We passed through two mine-fields, but there are still others and wire protect ing the main enemy positions. The military correspondent of ine Times,” writing today, said It is evident from our own and tne enemy reports that the Allies accomplished the preliminary P of ing defiles through the Axis mine fields The second phase began with the penetration of the enemys posiUoVat certain points. Further strong obstables lie ahead, and the ®nemys armoured forces are ready to exact a fearful penalty for rashness or error. The battle is likely to assume a hard slogging character, and defeat, of the enemy will prove a haid task. AUSTRALIAN TROOPS FIRST TO REACH OBJECTIVE. EARLY HAUL OF PRISONERS. CAIRO, October 26. The Australians, who in their part in the general Allied advance in the E Alamein area on Saturday reached th first stage toward the planned objective, steadied themselves while waiting for the barrage to lift a nd tlAe ?' went on to take the final objective at bayonet point. The Australians were thp first to achieve their objective, capturing on. route “'SSj.Tnd’de"nd for the most part shell-shocked by our gunfire. Our casualties were comparatively light. FAMOUS DIVISION BRITISH, INDIAN AND SOUTH AFRICAN. participating in desert OFFENSIVE. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.22 a.m.) RUGBY, October 26. Among the troops attacking in Egypt are the 44th (Home Counties) Division, which is a comparatively recent arrival in the Desert, though it took a prominent part in the defeat of the Axis offensive in September. It formed part .of the Third Corps in Flanders in 1940. The 50th (Northumbria) Division also served in France, where it made a counter-attack at Arras. Its skilful withdrawal from the Gazala position, earlier this year, is also recalled, the 51st (Highland) Division was in Lorraine with the French, and was then transferred northwards when the Germans attacked, but only a few thousands got away when the division was trapped at St. Valery. The division has now been reconstituted, and this is the first mention of its appearance in the Middle East. The Fourth Indian Division has already covered itself with glory from the days of the first Libyan offensive. The First South African Division fought in Somaliland, m Ethiopia, and in the Libyan offensive of last November.