FIGHTING IN TUNISIA

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 March 1943, Page 3

FIGHTING IN TUNISIA

RESTRICTED BV WEATHER ALLIED AIRCRAFT RAID MARETH DEFENCES. SMALL ENEMY ATTACK IN NORTH THROWN BACK. LONDON, March 14. In Tunisia, land activity is again on a restricted scale. Allied' aircraft have made another attack on Rommel’s Mareth defences. A small-scale enemy attack in Northern Tunisia has been thrown back. On the Mareth front German guns in the northern sector have livened up. Otherwise on all sectors of the Tunisian battle area it is the same storynormal patrol activity continues. In the air bad weather has cut down the scale of operations, though it has not prevented squadrons of fighters making their usual sweeps. On the First Army’s front, fighters shot up enemy tanks and armoured cars. In the Mareth area, Allied fighters encountered a large formation of German and Italian fighters. Four Messerschmitts were shot down and others were damaged. . In all air operations, ten Allied aircraft were lost. ENEMY GRIPPED ONCE FRUSTRATED & TWICE DEFEATED. EISENHOWER ON RECENT BATTLES. LONDON, March 13. The Commander-in-Chief of the North African theatre, LieutenantGeneral Eisenhower, in an order of the day to the armies under his control, said: "In the last three weeks the enemy has been attacking us in Tunisia, in the centre, the north and the south. Some of the fighting has been bitter and we suffered losses, but the enemy has been once frustrated and twice defeated in his attempts to break the Allied ring of encirclement. “Probably further and desperate efforts will be made, but I know that the troops of our field armies will with the continued effective support of the naval and air forces, inexorably push him back to the sea and destroy him. “I take this opportunity of expressing my pride in the inclusion of the Eighth Army and the Western Desert air force in the Allied forces in North Africa which I command. These forces will continue to typify the unified purpose of the British. French and Americans to force unconditional Axis surrender.” “Must Have Been Mad.” Lieutenant-General Montgomery has made a tour of the scene of the German attack on March 6 before the Mareth Line, personally congratulating the Eighth Army gunners. “He must have been mad,’ was General Montgomery’s comment on Rommel’s attack, reports the British United Press correspondent in Tunisia. The General added: “When you catch a rat in a trap he kicks out in all directions. Rommel first kicked out against the First Army and the Americans, and I suppose he thought he had to attack me, too. “The Eighth Army is so strong that we beat him off without losing a tank. He lost 40 tanks in this sector alone, When Rommel attacks me he attacks an experienced army. That is just what we want. “I wish he would to it again.” BADLY PLACED ENEMY IN NORTHERN AREA. ATTEMPTS TO SUPPLY TROOPS BY AIR. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 9.50 a.m.) RUGBY, March 14. The enemy obviously is having difficulty in supplying his troops in the northern Tamera-Sed Jenane sector, where the most recent fighting in Tunisia has occurred, says a correspondent with the First Army. He had to make use of Stukas last night to supply his troops in forward area positions, among the hills on the south side of the road. The Stukas dropped ammunition and food by parachute. Some canisters were dropped in a minefield laid by our troops, so the enemy was unable to collect them. The latest reports also indicate that enemy tanks have moved back to repair shops near Tunis.