EXTENDING RAPIDLY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 April 1943, Page 3

EXTENDING RAPIDLY

SWIFT ADVANCE

EIGHTH ARMY PUSHING ON BEYOND SOUSSE f Important Gains by First Army FIFTEEN SHIPS TORPEDOED BY BRITISH SUBMARINES RECORD DESTRUCTION OF AXIS AIRCRAFT LONDON, April 12. The British Eighth Army is now pushing on beyond Sousse, the Tunisian port about 75 miles south of Tunis. The First and Eighth armies have met somewhere near Kairouan, which is also in Allied hands. ' , British submarines in the Mediterranean have torpedoed 15 more Axis supply ships. Seven of these were certainly sunk and two more are listed as probably sunk. Armoured car crews of the two British armieg, according to a correspondent, linked up at noon yesterday 20 miles south of Kairouan The first units of General Montgomery s desert army are expected to reach the city at any .moment. The mam body of the Eighth Army is driving on beyond Soiisse. The British forces reached this port at 8.30 o’clock this morning, after covering’ the 80 miles from Sfax in two days. , The Algiers radio says the docks at Sousse were m names when the troops entered the port. . Before the First Army reached Kairouan, the mam attacking force bypassed the city and swung away to the north. The enemy forces have now been rolled back into the north-eastern corner of Tunisia. Rommel and Von Arnim are now virtually encircled in their bridgehead which includes an area running about 40 miles from Tunis. General Anderson’s First Army has made more progress in the Medjez el Bab area in the face of stiff opposition. Renter’s correspondent says the British troops have advanced several miles in a new thrust midway between Beja and Sidi Nsir. HAUL OF PRISONERS The Eighth Army has taken 20,000 prisoners during the past three weeks. Correspondents at Allied Headquarters state that since the North African campaign opened the Axis has lost 1,250 aircraft and the Allies 500. Forty-four of the enemy aircraft were shot down yesterday, which was a record day m the air. On this front Allied airmen again flew over 1000 sorties. SUBMARINES TAKING HEAVY TOLL British submarines in the Mediterranean have torpedoed 15 more Axis supply ships trying to get supplies to Tunisia. Seven are known to have been destroyed and two more, both large supply ships, are believed to have gone down. Others damaged included another supply ship and a large tanker. Submarines have also penetrated into the Aegean Sea and sunk a number of small enemy vessels. A factory near Salonika was shelled. i

ALLIED CONQUEST IN TUNISIA

SOUSSE AND KAIROUAN OCCUPIED