OFFENSIVE OPENED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 June 1943, Page 3

OFFENSIVE OPENED

“At midnight on April 19 the Eighth Army began the Allied general offensive which for the next three weeks raged along the whole front. This attack was carried out by the New Zealand Division and the Fourth Indian Division. We were on the coastal sector, with the Indian division on our left. We attacked with the Sixth Brigade on the right (under' the command of Brigadier Gentry) and the Fifth Brigade on the left (under the command of Brigadier Kippenberger); our objectives were the Takrouna feature and a long spur on the east. Following behind our infantry were the tanks of the British Eighth Armoured Brigade (under Brigadier Harvey), ready to go through at the first light. “At the appointed hour the infantry went forward behind a heavy artillery barrage from our field and medium artillery and guns of other formations (under our C.R.A., Brigadier Weir). On the right the Sixth Brigade made good progress, meeting with only slight opposition, and German troops from the 90th Light Division left Enfidaville village without fighting. On the left, however, the Fifth Brigade met with fierce resistance. Takrouna was a rocky crag surmounted by a village which, from the plain below, looked like some medieval castle. It had been turned into the fortress bastion of the enemy’s Enfidaville line and, as we learnt later from prisoners, it was considered by the enemy to be impregnable.

“The fighting here was as hard as any experienced in the whole campaign. The most intense fire was met; many officers became casualties. Every commanding officer of the Fifth Brigade was wounded.