IN TUNISIAN CENTRAL SECTOR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 May 1943, Page 3

IN TUNISIAN CENTRAL SECTOR

Allied Troops Forced Back Slightly PROGRESS MADE BY FRENCH IN NORTH GENERAL EISENHOWER COMPLETES EXTENDED TOUR OF FRONT LONDON, April 30. A ding-dong* battle is still raging* all along* the Tunisian battlefront. The Allies record small advances in the northern and southern sectors, but have been pushed back slightly in the central sector. The latest news of the fighting comes from the French. On the northern Tunisian coast French Moroccan troops have advanced a further 3| miles and from their positions they can see the white houses of Bizerta, some 25 miles away. Further south the French are mopping up captured ground near Pont du Fahs. On the central front the Germans have made one counterattack after another and in fierce fighting have succeeded in driving the Allied forces from the summit of a 700 ft. hill which dominates a long stretch of the Tebourba Road. The Germans threw in a number of tanks on the south side of the hill and some of them penetrated the Allied positions. A correspondent states that the present fighting in Tunisia is almost entirely a battle for hills. The Algiers radio says General Eisenhower has returned to headquarters after an extended tour of the front. A correspondent remarks that the battle combines the difficulties of the Western Front in the last war with those of India’s North-West Frontier. This kind of fighting* means losses in men and equipment that are even more serious for the enemy than for us. The enemy is doing all he can to reinforce. A message from the Allied headquarters says that the Axis, taking advantage of the moonless nights, has been running supplies across the Sicilian Narrows to Tunis.