HARD CORE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 April 1943, Page 4

HARD CORE

OF ENEMY RESISTANCE REACHED IN TUNISIA. ALLIES STILL CLOSING IN. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.30 p.m.) LONDON, April 29. The battle for Tunisia has settled down into closely-locked, swaying tussles for every height on the perimeter of the Italian-German defence box. Two focal points are the Medjerda Valley, where the First Army's left wing is attempting to smash towards Tebourba,

and the Goubellat Gap, where the Fibst Army’s right wing is attempting to isolate Pont du Fahs.

The Allied forces face a series of shrewdly-sited and fortified hill positions. The enemy is uniformly following the tactics of exacting the highest possible toll before the Allies win the outer slope and then unloosing a storm or shell fire and mortar fire before the Allied troops are able to consolidate. end immediately launching counter-a hacks, often with strong tank support. The “Daily Express” correspondent in Algiers states: “We have reached the hard core of the enemy’s resistance. It is a very hard core. We are still closing in, but the cost of our advances is greater and the distances are smaller.” The fate of the 750 feet Jebel Bou Aoukaz is still in doubt after one of Tunisia’s bloodiest battles, which is still raging after two days. Jebel Bou Aoukaz is 13 miles north-east of Medjez el Bab and nine miles , west of Tebourba. Jebel Eou Aoukaz fears up from the east bank of the Medjerda River, gives a view of practically the whole road to Tebourba and guards the entrance to the Tunisian Plain. THREAT TO PONT DU FAHS. The imminent fall of Pont du Fahs, which is outflanked on either side, is suggested in the latest dispatches from Tunisih. The Algiers radio said the British, from Goubellat, are with|ii three miles of the main Pont du Fahs-Tunis Road, while French forces have occupied the western slopes of the Zaghouan Mountains and hold all the heights dominating Poht du Fahs. The next move of the French troops operating in the immediate outskirts 'Jbf'the town will be its capture. ■ The radio added that the Eighth Xrffiy, “attacking Zaghouan from the §Js'dth, has advanced several miles along the coast during the past few days. The Eighth r .-Army renewed its attacks yesterday. chief opposition was not from -‘artillery fire, which it had been getfor the past week, but from mines f.'and demolitions. SUCCESS OF ALLIED TANKS. ' The latest news regarding the great "’jtarik battle for the Goubellat Gap, -Lwhich began last Friday morning, is ""■contained in a dispatch from Reuter's Correspondent, with the First Army, who says: “A British tank force, equipped with Sherman tanks, has destroyed 19 tanks during the past 48

hours, although they have been divebombed, heavily shelled and shot up by ;-enemy tank-busting planes. Their first job was the Capture of a hill north I of the Kourzia salt lake. As they adt vanced, von Arnim’s panzers rolled 4 downhill to meet them. Guns roared

and fierce exchanges echoed across £ the plain as the armoured units clashed. The Shermans knocked out seven enemy tanks and the remainder withdrew. The British reached the top •>. of the hill and held on until they were relieved next morning. After a short interval they again advanced, • whereupon five panzers moved but from a wadi. The Shermans immediately opened up and destroyed all five of the enemy within less than five minutes, at 1,000 yards range. On the same evening, Shermans spotted another enemy force, of which seven were destroyed. “While this was going on, a second i British tahk force, towards the south end of Lake Kourzia, engaged a German transport column in ah. action lasting for a few minutes. In this fifteen transport vehicles and a number of guns and motor-cycles were destroyed.” AN IMPORTANT GAIN. Discussing the Allied foothold in the Zaghouan Mountains, the Columbia Broadcasting System’s Algiers correspondent says: “This is really important, because it means that we now

control the hills dominating the plain

of Pont, du Fahs and also all the toads running north across the plain to Tunis. The Germans are really beginning to feel the squeeze down there. Zaghouan is at the northern side of

the barrier the Eighth Army is attacking from the south, so the Germans in between are in an unpleasant strategical position. They are starting (6 thih out.”

, Reuter’s Algiers correspondent reports that British infantry have occupied Sidi Ahmed, ten miles north-north-eastward of Medjez el Bab and northward of the Tebourba Road.

The Allied outstanding advantage in North Africa is a definite air superiority, said the United States War Secretary (Mr Stimsoh) at a Press conference in Washington. He addled that from March 29 to April 24, Allied airfilfeh had destroyed 1,064 enemy planes, of which 859 were combat planes and 205 were transports. The. Allies in the same lost 270 aircraft. HEAVY HILL FIGHTING AMERICAN GAIN IN NORTH. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.20 a.m.) RUGBY, April 29. A hundred per cent of the troops fighting against the First Army are Germans, according to a correspondent who believes they will fight with bitter determination to the last man. The heaviest fighting yesterday occurred at Jebel Bou Aoukaz, where, after a hard combat, we succeeded in reaching a crest 400 feet from a peak. The enemy launched terrific counter-at-tacks and sent over 500 infantrymen and 30 tanks. The first attack was repulsed, but the second obliged us to withdraw slightly. The enemy suffered- heavy casualties in infantry ahd tanks and we are still holding the western slopes of a hill about eight miles from Tebourba. The French Nineteenth Corps has made progress of four miles towards Pont du Fahs, but is finding great difficulty in pushing further horth. In the northern area, where the Second American Corps is makihfe deter-

mined efforts, fighting was exceedingly heavy. We occupied the slopes of Jebel Neftah, seven miles east of Sidi Nsir, and now dominate the Neftah Valley. The forces holding up the Eighth Army left flank consist of 80 per cent of Germans and 20 per cent of Italians, lhe correspondent concludes. A delayed despatch says: “On Tuesday night one of our patrols at the eastern end of the Goubellat plain succeeded in climbing up the huge base of Jebel Kournine, which stands as a sentinel in front of the last range of hills before the Tunis plain. They found a small party of the enemy holding the hill asleep, and took several prisoners. The patrol remained in possession of the hill until they were shelled off. Later another force of our infantry went up and held on until dawn, when the enemy shelled the bare top of the hill so heavily that they also were forced to withdraw. CAPTURED & HELD BY FIRST ARMY TROOPS. HEIGHT NINE MILES FROM TEBOURBA. LONDON, April 29. The First Army has captured an important height nine miles from Tebourba. The British troops are firmly dug in on top of the height and have beaten off a counter-at-tack. They have since started a further advance. !

The British have lost some ground* in the Longstop sector, where they have had to fall back to Longstop Hill itself.