FORCED BACK

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 63, Issue 169, 29 April 1943, Page 3

FORCED BACK

THE AXIS LINE IN TUNISIA.

“CRACKED BUT NOT BROKEN.”

PUSH OVER THE MOUNTAINS

LONDON, April 28

The Allied armies in Tunisia are relentlessly forcing the enemy back. The Axis defence line lias cracked in several places, but it is not broken. The correspondent of the “Manchester Guardian” in Tunisia reports that the enemy appears to have “put everything in the shop window” and to be making a stand on the present lines, rather than attempting defence in depth. However, the enemy undoubtedly has other defences further back. “The morale of enemy prisoners is good,” says the correspondent. “Most of them were prepared to fight to the last. They fought without hope and without fear, and with deadly accuracy.” i ■ : •• '

In the • north, French Moroccan troops and the United States 2nd Corps . have gained more ground in their push over the coastal mountains on the road to Mateur. In the centre the Ist Army is battling closer to Tebourba, into the mountains covering the western approaches to Tunis. In the mountain region above the Tobourba road the advance continues into difficult country beyond Longstop Hill. French troops between the Ist and Bth Armies have reached the gates of Poiit du Fahs, which is being shelled. Columns of the Ist Army are reported to be four miles from the road between Poiit du Falls and Tunis. Heavily-mined Wadi. As a result of fierce fighting, the Allies are progressing at all points, on the Tunisian front, but dispatches, though optimistic, point out that there has not yet been any break-through of the Axis lines, Reuter’s correspondent at Allied Headquarters says: “There are no signs that the Axis is giving up the struggle. On the contrary, the. enemy is standing firm and fighting it out,”'

The Exchange Telegraph Agency correspondent at Algiers says: “We are half-way from Medjez el Bab to Tebourba.” This report confirms an earlier one that the Axis forces were retreating to Tebourba. The British United Press correspondent with the Ist Army says that British infantry in this region occupied a series of hili positions and crossed a heavily-mined wadi which the Germans had hoped to hold. The Allies ate now eight to nine miles from Tebourba, which is 20 miles from Tunis. There is no indication where the Germans intend to make a stand on this front.

The representative of the National Broadcasting Corporation says: “The Ist Army is still advancing. They have definitely broken the shell of hills protecting the Germans. Two Axis units surrendered after being encircled east of Medjez el Bab.” The correspondent of the Columbia (American) Broadcasting System says; “If either the Ist Army or the French advance" further the Germans in the south will he. hard put to it to got out of the bag.” Another dispatch says that Allied armour drove within four miles of the vital Pont du Fahs - Tunis road and destroyed 20 enemy tanks, making 80 German tanks destroyed in the battle. French Near Pont du Fahs. A French communique broadcast by the Algiers radio states: “In the coastal sector out troops again advanced, reaching a point five kilometres east of Oued el Harkn. Numerous prisoners were captured. “In the central sector, our troops have arrived in the immediate vicinity of Pont du Falls. Continuing their advance, our troops by-passed the difficult terrain of Jebel Ekirin, and reached the national highway leading from Pont du Falls to Tebibina. This advance was effected in spite of the large number of mines which the retreating enemy left behind. The number of prisoners taken is very large, and war material captured is still being counted.”

“The Ist Army has pierced at several points the German outer defence ring between Medjca el Bab and Pont du Falls,” says the correspondent of the “Daily Express” in a. dispatch fiom Goubellat. “Yon Arnim has established a new line 20 miles outside Tunis. Our armoured forces now hold all the Goubellat plain, and are striking rapidly to cut the Tunis - Pont du Fahs road while the French are threatening this vital junction from the south.” "Carpet Bombers.” “Lieut.-General K. A. A. Anderson for the last 48 hours has been throwing in an ever-increasing number of tanks in a bid to capture Pont du Falls at any cost,” says the Paris radio. “The Bth Army appears poised to strike with its full strength when the great battle on the central and northern sectors is decided.” The correspondent of the “Daily Mail” with the Allied air forces says that the Bth Army asked for an air attack against the crest of “Razoi Hill,” a strong natural fortress inside the Axis lines near the coast north of Enfidavillo. “The job was given to the famous ‘carpet bombers’ of the Tactical Air Force, who form one of the coldest scientific blasting weapons in existence to-day,” says the correspondent. “They called their task ‘knocking a monkey from a stick,’ because Razor Hill is so steep that Gorman soldiers had been seen climbing up rope ladders to reach the stronghold.

> "Each squadron of these bombers which pounded Razor Hill is trained to lay in a few seconds a carpet of bombs so carefully spaced that a given area, is completely blasted. These squadrons can lav a carpet of bombs in any corner of enemy territory in Tunisia at little over an hour’s notice.” “Because it has not fallen to the

Ist Army to fight famous battles with several divisions in the line, the belief seems to have, spread that it lias had little battle experience in. comparison with the Bth Army,” says the correspondent of the “Daily Mail” mi the central Tunisian front. “The fact is that the Ist Army has clone some of the fiercest lighting in the whole war. but because of the geographical configuration of Tunisia, the' fighting has been on a small scale. The mountainous nature of the ground makes it impossible to carry out sweeping movements as in desert warfare l , so that the enemy has generally stood firm and fought hard.”