MURDEROUS CONFLICT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 April 1943, Page 4

MURDEROUS CONFLICT

IN OUTSKIRTS OF PONT DU FAHS ENTERED BY ALLIED TROOPS. VITAL PIVOT IN AXIS LINE. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.15 p.m.) LONDON, April 28. British and French troops have entered the outskirts of Pont du Fahs, where murderous' fighting is going on. The Columbia Broadcasting System’s Algiers correspondent reports that the French hava finished clearing the mountain® overlooking the town and that their patrols are now in the outer parts of the town itself.

■ ■ A British Uuiiea i-Tes? corresponden! states that French troops have cut *and crossed the road from Pont du Fahs to Enfidaville, south-east of the Zaghouan mountain, about 15 miles south-east of Pont du Fahs, thus threatening the rear of the German army facing General Montgomery’s in this sector. The same correspondent states that the Germans have used flame-thrower tanks against the British infantry on the Medjez el Bab front. These tanks, the corresponding says, throw a jet about 30 yards. The British infantry overcame this new weapon after they had stormed Sidi Salem, which is a hummock on the Medjez el Bab front. The Germans also threw into this fighting their crack infantry, with . heavy mortar and machine-gun support. ROMMEL SERIOUSLY ILL. ■ A late message says Marshal Rommel *is seriously ill. He is undergoing specialist treatment at a sanatorium near for a serious and chronic liver disorder and is also suffering from the effects of a wound received during the retreat from El Alamein. It is stated that Rommel several , ..weeks ago tried to see Hitler, but was refused an “audience.”

- FIRST ARMY TROOPS ALMOST AT THE SUMMIT. OF RIDGE OVERLOOKING TUNIS .PLAIN. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 9.45 a.m.) RUGBY, April 28. The slow progress recorded in » North African communique has brought the First Army, after hard fighting in the Medjez el Bab sec- • tor, nearly to the summit of a hill overlooking the plain, and only 21 miles west of Tunis. This is Jebel Bou Aoukaz, a dominating ridge on the right bank of the River Medjerda, ten miles north-east of Medjez el Bab. The British forces, after the capture of Jebel Ahmera, or Longstop Hill, crossed the river and stormed the ridge, reaching a point a quarter of a mile from the crest, taking 30 or 40 prisoners. A famous regiment captured another important hill, but the Germans, coun-ter-attacking with tanks, regained the crest. Along the Mateur Road, the Americans, pushing towards Jefna, took two dominating hills on either side of the road. These are Jebel Ajred, or Green Hill, on the south side, 13 miles from Mateur and Jebel Azag, or Bald Hill, just north of Jefna, 12 miles west of Mateur. Both hills, w’hich are over 1,200 feet high, were taken after very heavy fighting. The French, in the centre, with great dash and determination have taken all the high ground overlooking Pont ’du -Fahs, which is being closely invested 'from the north-west, south-west and south. The French in this sector, ineluding Algerian and Moroccan cavTtalry, are advancing in conjunction “-"With the western end of the Eighth ■—"Army front, in the area of Jebel Fkirin, .25 miles west of Enfidaville This 3,000 feet massif, forming a pivot in the •enemy line, is threatened by the French thrust between it and Pont du Fahs.

Along the northern coast, French —.;and north African troops advanced 27 miles in ten days and are still clambering through very difficult country, within ten miles of Lake Achke, north ■ of Mateur.

~ Under the steady Allied pressure, the enemy’s position is becoming hourly more acute. The Tactical Air Force, in hundreds of sorties on strongpoints, transport and armour, lost only one pilot. Great destruction is being done by accurate pattern bombing southeast of Medjez el Bab. Malta’s fighter-bombers today attacked the aerodrome on Lampedusa Island, bombs bursting among aircraft dispersed on the ground.

SUICIDE SQUADS LEFT BEHIND BY GERMANS. MANNING MACHINE-GUNS. (Received This Day, 1.5 p.m.) LONDON, April 28. The “Daily Mail's” correspondent north of Medjez el Bab says that as the Germans fall back they leave suicide squads of machine-gun-ners, who generally have been ordered to hold on until a certain hour, after which they are free to surrender. Many of them were among the prisoners taken on Longstop Hill. Almost all had fought in Reuter's Algiers correspondent reports that United States planes, in the week ended on April 23, flew over 5000 sorties, dropped almost two million lbs. of bombs, and destroyed 240 planes in combat. The Rome radio today said: “It would be folly to forecast the future of the battle in Tunisia, but the enemy pressure must certainly be considered grave.” PROSPECTS EXCELLENT ACCORDING TO SPOKESMAN AT HEADQUARTERS. GENERAL PREDICTS LONG STRUGGLE. (Received This Day, 12.50 p.m.) LONDON, April 28. Reviewing the position on various fronts, a British United Press correspondent says British infantry of the First Army have made new advances •“'against repeated German counter-at-Tacks in the deepening salient east of Medjez el Bab. One force attacked in

high ground east of the Medjerda River, 12 miles north-east of Medjez i el Bab and 21 miles west of Tunis. The latest reports place them, after heavy fighting, 400 yards from the summit of Jebel el Aoukay, which is east of Medjez el Bab. No important change is reported from Pont du Fahs, around which town the Allied line now forms an arc. The Eighth Army, in the southern sector, has advanced a few miles near where it joins forces with the French. The Americans in North Tunisia are advancing towards Jefna, after clearing two strategic hills protecting the township. A spokesman at Allied headquarters said today that prospects along the whole front were excellent. The Algiers radio reported that the First Army is now barely seven miles from Tebourba. A general commanding part of the Eighth Army warned that the Axis forces holding out in the Tunisian bridgehead will fight to the last man and last bullet. “There will not be any quick and crushing defeat of the Axis forces,” he told a British United Press correspondent. “The Eighth Army has never fought in hills like these. Formerly we had to punch only one good gap in the enemy line and then pour through and the line was disintegrated. Here every mountain involves a major attack.” Emphasising the strength of the German artillery, dug into the mountains behind the main line, with whole areas bristling with machineguns, the general paid a high tribute to the New Zealanders for their magnificent work. “After they took Takrouna —and I don’t know how those Maoris did it —” he said, “we found fifty heavy machine-guns and four 20pounders in the hills. The New Zealanders started frqm trenches at the foot of the mountains, with Italians dug in about half-way and Germans holding the top. A Maori sergeant and four privates, in daylight, started up the hill, but were stopped by Italian fire. Then the Maoris called for four Bren-guns and stalked up the mountain, firing the Bren-guns almost vertically. Their party of nine reached the top that day, with Italians and Germans all around them, and stayed there all day. I don’t know how they did it, but that night fifty more reached the top and. they cleared the hill,”