FIGHT FOR HILL

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 63, Issue 170, 30 April 1943, Page 3

FIGHT FOR HILL

TERRIFIC COUNTER-ATTACKS.

BRITISH STILL HOLD SLOPES. STRUGGLE FOR ANOTHER CREST, (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright.) (Rec. 9.35 a.m.) LONDON, April 29. All the troops fighting against the Ist Army are Germans, according to a correspondent who believes that they will fight with bitter determination to the last man.

The heaviest fighting yesterday was at Jebel Bou Eoukaz, where,' after a hard combat, we succeeded in reaching the crest 400 feet from the peak. The enemy launched terriffic counteratttacks and sent over 500 infantrymen with 30 tanks. The first attack was repulsed but the second obliged us to withdraw slightly. The enemy suffered heavy casualties in infantry and tanks, and we are still holding the western slopes of the hill about eight miles from Tebourba.

The French 19th Corps, made progress four miles toward Pont du Fahs, but is finding great difficulty pushing further north. In the northern area, where the 2nd American Corps is making determined efforts, the 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 Sth Army’s left flank consist of 80 per cent. Germans and 20 per cent. Italians says the correspondent. A delayed dispatch says that on Tuesday night one of our patrols on the eastern and Goubellat plain succeeded in climbing up the huge base of Jebel Journine, which stands as a sentinel in front of the last range of hills before the Tunis plain. They found the small party of the enemy that was holding the hill asleep and took several prisoners. The patrol remained in possession of the hill until shelled off.

Later another force of our infantry went up and held on until dawn, when the enemy shelled the bare top of tli’e hill so heavily that they also were forced to withdraw. — British Official Wireless.