FIRST ARMY STRIKES

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 77, 1 April 1943, Page 5

FIRST ARMY STRIKES

TYING UP YON ARNIM

!Rec. 10 a.m.)

LONDON, March 31. The First Army has launched an offensive which should pin yon Arnim to the defence of Bizerta and Tunis without any possibility of aiding the shattered remnants of the Afrika Korps. General Anderson's main blow, says Reuters northern Tunisia correspondent, was struck in the coastal. sector from Djebel Abiod along the road to Mateur, and so far all its phases have been completely successful.

The British forces further south, supported by artillery, carried but a raid in some strength in the area north of Medjez el Bab early yesterday morning. Some prisoners were taken. Our troops and the Moroccan levies in the north closed in on Sed Jenane after a surprise attack which caused the Germans to retreat in a thunderstorm.

All set objectives were attained and prisoners are rolling in. Groups of Italians are wandering about and waiting to surrender. British infantry, midway between Djebel Abiod and Tamera, cut the Sed Jenane road, bringing the Tamera region virtually under d"ur control again. The Germans, in an effort to save Tamera, from which the First Army was forced last week, blew up a road bridge and' also the road, and heavily mined the area, giving the British sappers plenty of work. Yon Arnim left a strong rearguard to cover his withdrawal, and these troops are now being engaged. Meanwhile Reuters correspondent with the American forces reports that General Patton's troops advancing from El Guetar reached the junction of the Gabes and Kebili roads at 2.30 p.m. yesterday after infantry had mopped up the ridges, bringing them within 60 miles of Gabes.

A continuous line of fires is strung along the road north of Gabes after the Allies' fierce, concentrated, and deadly accurate strafing of the retreating German columns. The British United Press correspondent with the American Fifth Army says that the Axis forces, after an allday battle, failed to close the Maknassy Pass to the Americans. "The Axis thrice attacked in the effort to dislodge the Americans from the vital hill positions north of Maknassy, but failed and suffered heavy losses, he says. "The American losses were light."

The British Navy is shelling the retreating Germans along the .coast north of Gabes. Violent battles are going on in the regions of Ousseltia and Faid.

.Rome radio says the British are throwing large reinforcements into more violent attacks in south-east Tunisia.