GENERAL OFFENSIVE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 April 1943, Page 3

GENERAL OFFENSIVE

FROM WEST & SOUTH LAUNCHED BY ALLIED ARMIES. i .<. - at heavy cost. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) ’(Received This Day, 11.35 a.nr.) LONDON, April 23. The Allied forces in Tunisia have launched a general offensive along the whole front from Cap Serrat to the sea near Enfidaville. First Army units, at heavy cost, have pushed six miles beyond Bou ; Arada. The Eighth Army has push- ' ed up the coast for six miles from Enfidaville. A full-scale offensive was opened by the First Army in the early hours of yesterday on nine miles of front east of the Bou Arada-Goubellat Road, apparently aimed at Pont du Fahs, on which a road netwok centres, and which is also important as an airfield. Some of the bloodiest fighting in the whole Tunisian campaign is now going on in the rugged hills near Medjez-eL Bab, where British infantry, backed up by hundreds of guns and planes, are making strenuous efforts to dislodge the enemy from extremely strong positions. The attack opened at 2 a.m. yesterday, when 500 of the First Army’s guns opened up against a commanding height six miles north-east of Medjez-el-Bab, known as Longstop Hill. The guns maintained a creeping bararge, behind which the infantry fought their way through trenches, concrete gun emplacements, and minefields. British troops quickly stormed the western slopes of three hills on which the Axis forces were strongly entrenched. Men of the First Army speedily advanced three miles. The enemy counter-attacked in the afternoon and regained one mile, but this was regained by evening. FEROCIOUS FIGHTING.

A British United Press correspondent, in a late despatch; reports that the British advanced six miles. Squadron after squadron of 'Allied bombers and fighters blasted the German lines during the day. The Eighth Army, after capturing Takrouna, continued to advance and fighting of extraordinary ferocity is going on. Reuter’s correspondent with the Eighth Army says: “Fighting with knives, bayonets and tommy-guns, the Eighth Army is slowly and relentlessly edging the Germans towards Bizerta and Tunis. General Montgomery’s men are fighting like tigers and not giving and not asking for quarter. The Germans are responding with similar fury. With the fall of Takrouna, the men of the Eighth Army are hacking their way down the rocky slopes on the far side of a hill. They have < never used the bayonet so consistently and are indulging in a series of wild charges in which the Germans contest every foot, even fighting from boulder to boulder. Machine-guns and mortars rain' shells and bullets on the British troops as they dash across slopes, taking advantage of the most meagre cover. The Germans are staging frequent counter-attacks, but as the British infantry reach an objective they immediately dig in and wait for a counter-assault. Every one of these so far has been broken, largely as a result of the Eighth Army’s terrific artil-

lery resources.” "The Times” correspondent with the Eighth Army says: “The assault on Takrouna is one of the great episodes of the Eighth Army’s campaign in Tunisia. The village is perched on a

tdadstool-like rock, honeycombed with caves, which the Germans converted into strong nests of resistance. Giant boulders gave the Germans shelter from the oncoming infantry. The steady advance of our troops was achieved by one method only—a grim

and determined attack with grenades and bayonets. It was a deadly struggle against Germans from whom the barren and rocky ground was captured only when they were dead. There were no prisoners.”