AMERICANS IN ACTION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 March 1943, Page 4

AMERICANS IN ACTION

LAND & AIR BATTLES EAST OF GAFSA SURRENDERING ITALIANS. ' FIRED ON BY GERMANS. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.25 a.m.) RUGBY, March 25. How forty Italian infantrymen, in the foothills eastward of Maknassi, were fired on by Germans when surrendering to our forces, is related by-a correspondent cabling from Gafsa yesterday. He said the Italians walked out of their positions with arms upstretched, when German infantry on their right opened fire on them. 1 The same correspondent says: “From the ridge overlooking the valley facing our forward positions, it is possible to count fifteen enemy tanks which were knocked out in Tuesday’s battle at El Guettar. A number of others, temporarily put out of action, were retrieved by the enemy during the night. Among those remaining in front of the ridge was a big Tiger which was knocked out by a first shot. American sappers in ‘jeeps’ buzzed about this locality, dynamiting tanks and bringing back American tanks that had been knocked out in the previous day’s battle. “The enemy expended more than 100 shells in a futile effort to prevent the ‘jeeps’ moving around. Our artillery was ready for the renewed enemy attack.”

A later message from a correspondent at Allied North African headquarters says the Americans repulsed further German attacks. The enemy also made a number of bombing attacks, supporting tanks which came out of the valley, spreading fanwise towards the

American positions. They were met by a devastating fire and several were knocked out. They tried to carry the American positions, but were forced back by concentrated fire. American infantry stood firm and repulsed the enemy infantry, which closely followed the tanks. The correspondent concluded: “Allied aircraft seemed to fill the sky in the latter part of the day. At one stage I saw almost a hundred planes fighting over the battle area.”

GERMAN REPORT

SOME SUCCESSES CLAIMED

(Received This Day, Noon.) . LONDON, March 25

The German High Command states that superior enemy forces continue heavy attacks in the Central Tunisian area and in the Southern Tunisian defence zone and adds: “The Luftwaffe on the Southern Tunisian front intervened in defensive fighting with destructive results. German and Italian forces, in fighting sometimes developing into hand to hand encounters, held on to their main fighting lines. The enemy, where he succeeded in penetrating our positions, was ejected by counter-attacks. After powerful artillery preparation, in the early hours of Wednesday, vastly superior. American tank forces in the Maknassi area attacked on a broad front. Part of the American forces, after many hours of fighting, succeeded temporarily in penetrating the Axis positions. German reserves immediately sealed the breaches, averting the danger of a farflung envelopment. Meantime, other reserves threw back Americans who broke through in a vigorous flanking attack. The Americans suffered heavy losses.” The German High Command added: “A German/'counter-attack eastward of El Guettar gained considerable ground, wiping out a great part of an American force, which had thrust eastward. After being on the .previous day driven back to their original positions with heavy losses, British desert troops, advancing north of the Shot! el Jerid, again attacked Italian and German rearguards on Wednesday. The British failed to achieve their object, namely to push the Axis forces into their main defence line. The Axis troops were forced to withdraw at only one point. Major engagements did not occur on the eastern Mareth front on Wednesday, the British confining themselves to raking Rommel's lines with ■artillery fir&, which the Axis batteries vigorously answered.” ROMMEL’S TACTICS SHOWING SOME SIGNS OF DESPERATION. (Received This Day, 12.10 p.m.) LONDON, March 25. Despit'e the ban on correspondents dispatches fom Tunisia, the Algiers radio tonight stated that the Eighth Army continues to hold a firm and important bridgehead in the enemy’s fortified Mareth zone. The salient which General Montgomery won remains in our hands, the radio added. Fighting is still fierce in the southern sectors in Tunisia. Rommel, feeling that events are shaping seriously for him, is setting all he has in motion in an effort to deny General Montgomery the initiative. Despite losses, and true to the Gorman method, Rommel is throwing in wave after wave of troops in an attempt to prevent the Eighth Army crossing the Mareth Line defences. Masses of Germans are falling under heavy fire from the British tanks and artillery.