GAINS HELD

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 October 1942, Page 4

GAINS HELD

BY THE EIGHTH ARMY DELIBERATE DEVELOPMENT OF ATTACK. INROADS INTO POWERFUL DEFENCES. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 10.55 a.m.) LONDON, October 27. In the fourth day of the battle in the Western Desert the Eighth Army consolidated its early gains and threw back enemy counterattacks. The Associated Press Cairo correspondent says Rommel's main positions have been penetrated at some points, but so far there is no report of the main forces meeting. The Eighth Army appears to be moving deliberately and cautiously, consolidating each gain before driving on to the next objective. The enemy has put up a stiff resistance, and at some points there has been hand-to-hand fighting in infantry night advances. Reuter’s correspondent reports that the enemy launched unsuccessful coun-ter-attacks, which were suitably dealt with by the Allied air force, which is maintaining a terrific pressure. Action along the whole front is being characterised by the big guns on our side, says the British United Press. While along some sections of the front the Allies’ gains are being consolidated, operations elsewhere are aimed at destroying enemy pockets left behind during the initial advance. There is no concealing the fact that a hard task faces the Eighth Army in battering down the concentrated enemy forces. Thus even the slightest gains of ground are important over a terrain where, for the past four months, the enemy has been digging in behind a protective screen of minefields with considerable defences in depth. The Italian and German air forces have been more active over the forward positions. The Luftwaffe’s heaviest attack of the battle was a dusk raid on Sunday against the British front line. The Axis planes encountered intense ground fire, and Allied night fighters were quickly and effectively on the job and drove off the Stuka's. ATTACK ON CONVOY TWO OUT OF THREE SHIPS DESTROYED. (Received This Day, 12.10 p.m.) LONDON, October 27. The Axis convoy smashed up by Allied planes when on its way to Libya comprised three ships with four escorting destroyers and planes overhead. Allied heavy and light bombers and torpedo-planes attacked relentlessly in face of terrific fire from the destroyers. Only one Axis supply ship escaped. The Allied air forces are maintaining a continuous shuttle-service attack against enemy concentrations, strong points and supply lines. ENEMY REPORTS SIGNS OF COLLABORATION. —— i SOME ADMISSIONS MADE. (Received This Day, Noon.) LONDON, October 27. A German communique says: “The Egyptian battle is continuing with undiminished violence. The British yesterday threw in fresh forces and tried vainly to break through the Italian and German positions. The Italians and Germans destroyed 111 tanks and 38 armoured cars. Italian and German planes increasingly attacked British rear communications and shot down fourteen Allied machines over the battle area and the Mediterranean.” An Italian communique repeats the German report, but claims that in all 22 Allied planes were shot down. It says one Italian submarine has failed to return to its base and that one enemy submarine has been sunk. The German News Agency says the Eighth Army has brought up reserves and extended its offensive to the central sector but has nowhere gained a decisive advantage. “The British,” it adds, “attempted to turn our position from the Qattara Depression and lost several tanks.” The “Volkischer Beobachter” declared that the Allied offensive in the Western Desert was being carried but with extraordinarily strong forces. “It need hardly be emphasised,” says the paper, “that the Axis forces have to face the hardest demands. It is obvious that the enemy has concentrated his war effort in North Africa.” The Berlin radio reported that British troops from east of Mersa Matruh early today attempted a landing in sneed boats behind the positions at El Alamein, but that Italian bombers caused a withdrawal. A radio despatch from El Alamein states that Axis tanks, supported by infantry, engaged British tanks in bitter fights. The battle continued ail Sunday night and Monday morning and even increased in violence. “Although the battle is not yet over, we are in a position to state that the Jmlipn ,/>nd German forces stood up to the powerful attacks unleashed by the enemy," me enemy report states.