MINEFIELDS CLEARED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 March 1943, Page 4

MINEFIELDS CLEARED

FOR PASSAGE OF BRITISH ARMOURED FORCES EIGHTH ARMY ATTACK IN TUNISIA. AMERICANS DRIVING TO COAST. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 11.45 a.m.) LONDON, March 22. The Eighth Army, advancing on a front extending six miles from the coast to the main road connecting Medinine and Mareth, has taken all its preliminary objectives, says a British United Press correspondent at Allied Headquarters. Heavy fighting is continuing. Many minefields have been cleared to ‘enable the passage of British mechanised forces. The battle in Tunisia is taking the form of concentric pressure by the Eighth Army from the east and FrancoAmerican forces from the west, in addition to constant air battering from all sides. Simultaneously with the Eighth Army’s attack against the Mareth Line, the Americans attacked from the north-west. Driving ten miles daily towards the coast from the Gafsa area, they have covered 65 miles since the beginning of their drive on March 17 and have now captured the village of Bouhamad, 8 miles eastward of El Guettar. PRISONERS TAKEN SOME ITALIANS WILLING TO SURRENDER. ENEMY AND OTHER REPORTS. (Received This Day, 12.30 p.m.) . LONDON, March 22. An Exchange Telegraph Agency correspondent says the Americans took 1,500 prisoners in their eastward advance in the Gafsa area. Nearly all were Italians. The American losses were very small. As the Americans closed in, the Italians opened fire from concealed positions in the hills, but, supported by artillery, the Americans continued to close in. The Italians then surrendered by the score. They marched out with upstretched hands. An Associated Press correspondent says the Americans are now in sight of Maknassi. Captain Sertorius, the Berlin radio’s commentator, stated that very strong American forces are attacking east of Sened, between a ridge north of the Shott el Jerid and the railway between Gafsa and Sfax. This Axis forces withdrew from Gafsa and other places and established advanced positions on heights directly west of the lower coast. He added that the Axis withdrawal from the Gafsa area frustrated an Anglo-American plan to force the Italians and Germans simultaneously to face a frontal attack from the Americans and from the Eighth Army on March 17, when Sertorius claimed that the Eighth Army launched a limited attack which proved to be a fiasco. Sertorius said light British forces were attacking northwest of Ksarrhilane, in an attempt to penetrate between the Shott el Jerid and the Matamana Mountains (beginning about 30 miles west of Mareth and extending south-eastwards to a point between Ksarrhilane and Foum Tatahouine). Sertorius concluded that the British in North Tunisia continue on the defensive for the time being, but that no doubt they will be allotted a part in the general offensive and their attack has been planned for the next phase, which may begin within a few days. Reuter’s North African correspondent says the main German effort still appears to be in the north, where they yesterday attacked and captured Nefsa, a small railway station about two miles north-west of Djebalaboid, which is west of Tamera, but the British established a line covering Djebelaboid and fighting is going on. The Paris radio claims that more than 2,000 Allied troops were taken prisoner in the Sed Jenane sector by von Arnim’s forces, which cut the Mateur-Tabarka Road and occupied it at several points. Today’s German communique says strong Anglo-American forces are attacking the Italian positions in Central and South Tunisia and that heavy ground and air battles are going on. An. Italian communique says the enemy on March 21, after intense artillery preparation, violently took the offensive in Central and Southern Tunisia and that fierce fighting is in progress. The Berlin radio claimed that the Italians and Germans repulsed General Montgomery’s frontal attack. MALTA AIRCRAFT PLAYING'HAVOC WITH AXIS RAILWAYS. t -IN SICILY AND SOUTHERN . ... ITALY. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.55 a.m.) RUGBY, March 22. Malta’s fighters and intruders have now destroyed or damaged 105 locomotives in enemy territory, notably in Sicily and Southern Italy, says the Air Ministry. This total was reached on Saturday night, after fighter intruders had ended a most successful evening’s work. AIR LOSSES VERY MUCH AGAINST ENEMY. NEW ZEALANDER’S NOTABLE EXPLOIT. (British Official Wireless.) (Receiveci This Day, 10.35 a.m.) RUGBY, March 22. “During the first nineteen days of March. 128 enemy aircraft were destroyed for the loss of 41 Allied planes in the Tunisian battle area,” says a correspondent in North Africa. “Perhaps the most remarkable achievement in recent weeks was that of a New Zealand pilot who, in twenty minutes, shot down four Italian bombers which were attacking one of our convoys. He was awarded the D.F.C. on the spot.”