SHARP SETBACK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 March 1943, Page 3

SHARP SETBACK

IN SOUTHERN TUNISIA A Germans Recover Lost Ground in Coastal Zone ANNOUNCEMENT BY MR CHURCHILL CONFIDENCE IN THE FINAL RESULT LONDON, March 24. The British Eighth Army and the German Afrika Korps are locked in a fierce battle on the Mareth Line. Since General Montgomery drove a wedge into the German defences Rommel has counter-attacked with everything he has got in men and armour. Mr Churchill told the house of Commons today that this counter-attack had enabled the enemy to regain the greater part of the ground won by the British troops and the German defence line was largely restored. Mr Churchill said that, as he had told members, he did not want hopes of an early decision to be encouraged. On the other hand, he had good confidence in the final result. The Algiers radio stated that although the enemy had regained the lost ground the British forces were keeping up their pressure at all points. General Eisenhower reports that enemy prisoners on this sector already captured number over 2000. According to another message the number of Germans and Italians captured exceeds 3,000. DRIVE ON EL HAMMA ’The British forces which bypassed the Mareth Line by a thrust from the desert towards El Hamma are also meeting with ferocious resistance. The latest news indicated that they were within eight miles of El Hamma. AMERICANS REPEL ATTACKS - Rommel has launched more fierce counter-attacks on the American troops thrusting towards the Gabes corridor. An armoured division tried to pin the Americans on the Gafsa Road, The Americans held their positions firmly and knocked out a number of tanks. Further north, American troops are pushing on from Maknassi. The latest report states that they are holding high ground less than 30 miles from the coast road between Gabes and Sfax. > The weight of the Allied air attack is immense. It is greater than anything which hit the enemy at El Alamein. Hundreds of British and American light bombers, fighter-bombers and fighters attacked the enemy troops, tanks and gun positions.