SIDI REZEGH BATTLE

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23513, 16 December 1941, Page 4

SIDI REZEGH BATTLE

FIERCE FIGHTING RELIEF FROM BRITISH TANKS (Official War Correspondent, N.Z.E.F.) CAIRO, December 10. A dispatch from the desert, dated December 5, states; No fighting in the campaign has been so fierce and sustained as in the Sldi Rezegh-Bir el Hamed-El Duda area. No troops have been deeper in its midst than two of our brigade groups, German prisoners have said that their losses were terrific and the lull reported there lately must have been largely due to exhaustion on both sides.

That first prolonged lapse in the battle, the start of which was witnessed 12 days ago, when a New Zealand formation, under Brigadier H. E. Bairowclough, made a forced march from the coast, put new blood into the drive on Tobruk. There is little doubt now that this bold, detached expedition had the effect of jamming the toe-cap pf a solid British boot into the Tobruk doorway. On the third day another composite New Zealand formation, under Brigadier L. M. Inglis, came abreast, ready to make a brilliant double night attack, won Bir el Harped and El Duda, and actually linked us with Tobruk. The Germans clutched firmly to the high ground south of- the gap, and began to use it in an effort to pierce our forces and again close the corridor. They smuggled guns round behind us. Capture of General

Our capture last Saturday of General von Revenstein helped to foil one of the enemy’s strongest attempts to break our increasingly thin red line. Sunday afternoon, just before sunset, saw the enemy try again, sending a flock of tanks down the escarpment direct at our positions. But they were again unsuccessful. Monday was the wildest day of all. We were told at dawn to stand by ready for action, and the sun was hardly clear of the horizon when action burst round us. This time, with a heavy artillery barrage, mortar and machine-gun fire, the Germans repeated the previous afternoon’s tank assault, and the New Zealanders fought back just as fiercely. The noisy sky was filled with black smoke as the battle swept towards Bir el Hamed. Bullets hummed like angry bees, and mortar bombs burst deafenIngly in a furious exchange of fire. I thought the enemy was playing his last and triumphant card, when I looked up in amazement to see another fleet of tanks coming down the face of the escarpment with streamers of dust behind them. They lost themselves in a grimy screen of battle-smoke, but when they emerged, much nearer, we realised they were our own. It gave us comfortable relief, as it protected our reforming movements and the removal of vehicles to safer positions.