EIGHTH ARMY RESUMES DRIVE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 82, 7 April 1943, Page 3

EIGHTH ARMY RESUMES DRIVE

(New Zealand Press Association.—Copyright.—Rec. 12.30 p.m.) LONDON, April 6. The Eighth Army has resumed its drive northward. Allied headquarters in North Africa announced that the Eighth Army attacked Wadi el Akahit at 4.30 this morning. The first objectives were taken. Correspondents cabling from headquarters state that the drive started oh a line north of Oudref and Gabes, before Wadi el Akarit, which is a deep natural barrier affording excellent defensive positions. . The attack is proceeding according to plan. A later announcement says that one agency correspondent describes the. attack as massive against Wadi el Akarit, the defence line which Rommel so hastily threw up when he realised that the Mareth positions would not hold. For about a week the Eighth Army has been probing the Axis positions while bombing has been carried out daily to find weak spots. The eastern end of the Wadi el Akarit is near the sea. It is a wide declivity with sweeping sides going down 20ft and with much water at the bottom. Rommel has built many tank ditches in the district, and the defences have been classed as "tough'V by correspondents and as being strong on the north side of the wadi. Stretching away to the west on Rommel's flank the Americans are reported to be exerting pressure on the Axis formations.