SWIFT ADVANCE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 December 1942, Page 3

SWIFT ADVANCE

MADE BY NEW ZEALAND TROOPS TO POINT 60 MILES WEST OF EL AGHEILA. SURPRISE SPRUNG ON ENEMY. (Official War Correspondent, N.Z.E.F.) NEW ZEALAND HEADQUARTERS, December 16. In a wide desert movement our troops reached a point near the roadway about 60 miles west of El Agheila, close on the heels of the main body of the enemy’s retreating forces and behind those left tto delay the Eighth Army’s advance. After taking its position in the half light of an obscure moon last night, one formation was engaged in sharp conflict with an enemy force which occupied a hilltop a few miles from the road. The position was cleared at the point of the bayonet and prisoners were taken. They were all Germans.

Several 50-millimetere and many smaller calibre guns were captured. A counter-attack was beaten off and more casualties inflicted on the enemy. Our anti-tank guns accounted for a Mark 111 tank and another tank was severely damaged, pieces being found trewn over the ground. There was considerable enemy mortar and artillery fire in this area this morning, but our .casualties throughout have been light. In reaching the positions from which the attack was made, heavy transport traversed several miles of appalling rough scrub-cover-ed country difficult even for a “jeep” to negotiate. Steep boulder-strewn hillsides and deeply-scoured watercourses were encountered, but only one vehicle of the many engaged failed to reach its destination. . QUICK CONSOLIDATION.

By a series of swift moves over the route which took them many miles south of El Agheila, the first of our columns reached its present position at dusk yesterday. Consolidation was started immediately. The strength of the enemy’s forces to the east had not been fully determined, and far into the night bulldozers worked in the moonlight preparing gun positions. Tanks rumbled to their appointed places, and supply columns disgorged their loads. By midnight quiet had settled over most of'the area, and men slept by slit trenches. There were artillery exchanges during the early hours of this morning, and our guns harassed retreating columns on the road. Everything has been fairly quiet since then except for some return fire from enemy guns and mortar fire in the more forward localities. One column of enemy tanks which came into contact ,with our light armoured forces broke its formation and made off on being engaged. Such was the surprise of the meeting that men were sitting oh top of some of the tanks, the turrets of which were often open. Fighter planes of the R.A.F. have frequently been overhead, and so far there has been complete freedom from l air attack. , The great desert journey just completed has taken our troops a distance of more than 600 miles from the position near Fort Capuzzo, where they spent several weeks following the inital chase after the break-through at El Alemein. The last stages were through desert which at times was without one relieving feature, but in parts was broken by great wadis. Down precipitous slopes, without hesitation, went columns of trucks guns, bren-carriers and tanks. Occassionally there was only a narrow gap prepared by sappers with bulldozers, through which the columns could negotiate soft going or dangerous slopes. ROUTE MARKED OUT. The whole route had been well marked, by provosts with petrol tins and New Zealand track signs, even to the extent of defining the most treacherous parts. There were subdtied lights on standards for night travel. The convoys proceeded mostly by day unmolested from the air or on the ground. Marada, which the enemy had occupied a short time previously,- was found by patrols to be deserted when the New Zealanders passed that way. As the desert was dustless, occasional rain was to our advantage, making more difficult enemy observation of the move. During halts in the journey, the inevitable footballs appeared, and even 'now as our guns are firing and enemy .shells are falling not far distant footballs are soaring into the air round where I write.