NEW BATTLE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 December 1942, Page 4

NEW BATTLE

EXPECTED TO BEGIN IN TUNISIA ENEMY ATTACKS HALTED. ON APPROACHES TO VITAL COMMUNICATION CENTRE. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.50 p.m.) LONDON, December 13. “A new battle for Medjez el Bab, a vital communication centre on the Tunis Railway, is expected to begin at any moment, writes Reuter’s correspondent from the Tunisian battlefront today. “The Allies are firmly holding the town, and the roads from the Tebourba area and Massicault, along which General Nehring launched the tank and infantry drives which were previously repulsed. It is estimated that onehalf of the enemy mechanised forces were employed. The losses inflicted were insufficient to cause General Nehring uneasiness, but he altered his tactics, attempting infiltration, which Allied patrols halted. Future operations largely depend on the weather. Rains have softened the fields, but the roads are useable. The terrain permits a column from Massicault to move more rapidly than from Tebourba. On both approaches to Medjez el Bab the Allies have sited batteries of British 25-pounders and French seventy-fives, both of which previously had taken heavy toll of the panzers, often at short range.