BRITISH GUN KNOCKS OUT SIX AXIS TANKS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 106, 6 May 1943, Page 5

BRITISH GUN KNOCKS OUT SIX AXIS TANKS

WELL-PREPARED TRAP Enemy Loses Twelve Out Of Seventeen N.Z. Press Association.—Copyright Rec. 1.30 p.m. LONDON, May 5. A German commander fell into a carefully-prepared British trap northeast of Medjez el Bab when the enemy lost 12 out of 17 tanks as mentioned in an Algiers communique. The Associated Press correspondent with the British First Army describes an extraordinary incident in this action when one British heavy anti-tank gun knocked out six German tanks before being itself destroyed by a shell from its last victim. The correspondent says: "The Germans put down a smoke screen and the smoke swirled thick in the mountain gap. One of our guns, by a ■freak of circumstance, was not obscured by the smoke and the gun crew had a clear view of the rising ground over which the enemy armour was expected to appear. Suddenly three tanks, poked their steel into the range of our anti-tank gun, which picked them off like wood pigeons. Then two more were seen. The gun again scored direct hits with two rounds. "Finally the sixth tank come within range. The senior officer said: 'It was almost unbelievable, but the tank and the gun fired simultaneously. Both hit their targets. The tank was disabled and two of the gun crew were killed. The enemy was unable to salvage any tanks. Our sappers blew them up. It was a great day s work.'" "Advanced French elements have reached the eastern edge of the plain extending to the north-east of Bizerta," states a French communique, quoted by Algiers radio. "The French African Corps, advancing along the coast, has reached the tip of Cape Lkoran. "South-east of Pont du Fahs French troops, in spite of fierce enemy resistance, advanced several kilometres in the general direction of Jebel Zaghouan."