FRONT AFLAME

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 April 1943, Page 4

FRONT AFLAME

CRESCENDO OF BATTLE IN TUNISIA STRENGTH OF THE ENEMY WANING. ~ UNDER TREMENDOUS ALLIED PRESSURE. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, April 27. The whole Tunisian front is ■ aflame, from the northern cliffs, within a short run of Bizerta, to the sultry marshes in the Gulf of Hammamet, with the fighting reaching a climax of savagery. “The Times” Algiers correspondent says there is no question but that the enemy will fight on with desperate stubbornness until he is exhausted, but his strength is being hourly reduced by the tremendous Allied pressure. The British, American and French troops are paying a price, but with the knowledge that they have strong reserves. •’The Germans and Italians see their tank strength dwindling, their space contracting and the vigour and spirit of their men worn down under the re- • morseless and ceaseless fury of our attacks, and they know that for them '.no reserves exist. CONFLICT IN NORTH. American infantry in the north, pushing up the slopes of Jebel Azag, on the northern fringe of the so-called impenetrable German positions between Jebel Abiod and Mateur, had ’ reached a point within 75 yards of the summit when they were forced back to the bottom. German engineers in December prepared these positions. They include concrete emplacements, embedded in rock. American "'bombers today began shuttle attacks against these positions. Moroccan troops advanced in the Cap Serrat

area and found that the Axis troops,

who apparently expected a large-scale --■attack, had hastily retreated, aban'doning a huge ammunition dump, clothing and equipment. This retreat

is typical of many in North Tunisia.. Reuter’s correspondent, in a dispatch from Algiers tonight, says Von Arnim’s line in the Medjez el Bab bulge is sagging under pressure from the Allied offensive. The British are now only nine miles from the open plain. Infantrymen storming the Medjerda River scaled and captured heights on the east, turning out the Germans, who fought strongly. The infantry are still advancing. The Medjez el B?.b threat now equals in danger

to the Axis the armoured thrust in the central sector. The whole front today shows signs of beginning a great movement, as the battle is reaching its height.

ENEMY ADMISSIONS JZS'i TANK BATTLE WILL BE DECISIVE. BLOW BY EIGHTH ARMY ANTICIPATED. (Special P.A. Correspondent.) (Received This Day, 10.50 a.m.) LONDON, April 27. The tank .battle, raging between Gcubellat, Bou Arada and Pont du Fahs, will be decisive, stated the Paris radio’s military commentator, Pequis, A breach of German lines in this sector inevitably will entail a withdrawal of the Axis forces’ west wing, facing the Eighth .Army, and consequently an abandonment of the Zaghauan Moun. tains. Captain Sertorius (Berlin radio commentator) admitted that the B/itish were again attacking and added: “It must be admitted that the Eighth ’Army, which has used the holiday period to reinforce its fighting povzer, remains the factor to be reckoned with in" the coming phases of the battle.” -■ The Berlin radio broadcast a front line dispatch reading: “Heavy nightly artillery fire grinds our nerves. After t: sleepless night, we have to meet mass 'attacks at dawn.”