BATTLE TACTICS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 31 March 1943, Page 3

BATTLE TACTICS

MONTGOMERY’S QUICK CHANGE WORSE THAN EL ALAMEIN t FOR GERMANS. GAP SMASHED THROUGH ’ DEFENCES. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, March 29. The British United Press correspondent in Algiers says that when the combined land and air assault against Rommel’s flank began on Friday afternoon the German positions were then still 10 miles south-east of El Hamma. Our bombers and fighter-bombers-ham-mered the Germans, while our guns, tanks and infantry maintained heavy pressure. It was worse than El Alamein for the Germans. The British forces by Saturday were well on the way to El Hamma, and they did not cease , their pressure during the whole of the weekend. Heavy toll was taken of the enemy troops, who abandoned artillery, tanks and motor-vehicles as they retired. A Reuter’s correspondent who was with the Eighth Army south of El Hamma describes an attack oir Saturday in which the infantry attained all their objectives, enabling the British tanks to enter the gap in the German lines. “General Montgomery’s outflanking attack was made suddenly immediately he had realised that the frontal assault on the Mareth defences ’ was likely to be too expensive,” the correspondent said. “Montgomery transferred the main weight of the attack round the Matmata Hills, throwing in infantry and tanks to support the outflanking force, which had been already engaging the Germans behind the Mareth Line south-east of El Hamma. “The artillery put up a heavy barrage against the enemy, and the infantry launched an assault in the afternoon amid a choking dust-storm. Veteran desert-trained fighters charged the Germans across a wilderness which was greater than anything they had seen during the whole of their advance. The Germans’ positions consisted of a series of machine-gun nests and connecting trenches, and in these a gap was forced. “The Germans before darkness withdrew at top speed, foi'ming rearguard positions along the Wadi el Assiub, 10 miles south-east of El Hamma village. The British tanks exploiting the break-through were heavily engaged by artillery and anti-tank guns, which forced them to fight a sharp engagement every few thousand yards. The tanks pushed on relentlessly, and by Sunday morning they had established new positions, which they held till the infantry, who were mopping up behind, came up. “The Germans rushed up reinforcements from Mareth and fought furiously all day, but the British continued clearing up machine-gun nests and artillery positions. “The roads to the rear are packed with lorry-loads of German prisoners.”