NO SLACKENING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 December 1942, Page 4

NO SLACKENING

IN PURSUIT OF ROMMEL AXIS REARGUARDS CONSTANTLY BLASTED. ENEMY TRANSPORT AFFORDING Good targets. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.10 p.m.) LONDON, December 16. The latest reports indicate that the advanced forces of the Eighth Army are never losing sight of the remnants of the Afrika Korps fleeing along the coast road from El Agheila to Misurata. The Allied air forces day and night are harrying the Axis forces and giving them no breathing space. Land mines are still impeding our troops, but there are now fewer salt marshes, enabling faster prpgress in the pursuit. Rommel plainly is still retreating as fast as possible. His rearguard, consisting of machine-gunners supported bv artillery and a handful of tanks, is fighting hit and run actions at the roadside and among sand dynes, but fighter-bombers are blasting these batteries. Allied bombing is forcing th ewithdrawing Axis columns into tiehter concentrations, resulting in better targets 'Allied bombers at Marble Arch, 40 miles, westward of El Agheila, smashed so many vehicles that the enemy column was disorganised for many hours. The enemy sent up Messerschmitt 109 s, but they made only half-hearted attempts to interfere with the R.A.F’s. fierce attacks. Our planes found ground fire more dangerous than the German fighters. The Eighth Army’s proximity and the Air Force’s bustling tactics dislocated what started off as an orderly withdrawal. “The Times" Cairo correspondent says the retreat is still by rib means a rout, but is now proceeding far less smoothly.