TANK BATTLES

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20629, 3 December 1941, Page 5

TANK BATTLES

ARTILLERY FIRE A BAYONET CHARGE GERMANS DRIVEN BACK (Reed. Dec. 3, 9 a.m.) LONDON, Dec. 2. The British United Press correspondent with the advanced armoured units said yesterday that two tank battles were .raging in Libya. German units and artillery were attacking the New Zealanders slightly north-west of Sidi Rezegh. The German 21st Division was attacking north-east of Sidi Rezegh. The Indian division which captured “Libyan Omar” late on Sunday took prisoner 400 Germans and a number of Italians. A bayonet charge drove the Germans from points inside the British defences at Sidi Rezegh, which the enemy occupied after a big tank and infantry attack, stated the British United Press correspondent with the New Zealanders in a despatch of yesterday. The British charged just before dawn, after a night-long tank battle, and regained all the contested ground.

A German column consisting of several hundred vehicles, moving along the Trigh-Capuzzo road at night, ran into newly arrived British forces. The British attacked the column, which turned about and fled to Gambut.

German Vehicles Destroyed •

The Germans at dawn found another British armoured force astride their path. British tanks and armoured cars destroyed and set on fire many vehicles.

A correspondent of the British United Press with the New Zealanders near Tobruk, in a delayed despatch, says that New Zealand infantry, supported by armoured cars, raided a German motorised battalion on an escarpment and after a short, hectic fight captured 100 Germans and four huge 10-ton desert lorries.

A grinning New Zealander described the fight. “Our artillery was giving this Jerry column a real pasting,” he said. “The column began breaking into’ smaller parties all over the place. Then their tanks got into a running battle with ours and we had our hands full. “We worked our way up the side of the escarpment while armoured cars got behind Jerry, driving this bunch to us. We waited until they were a few hundred' yards away and then charged over the top of the escarpment. A few bursts from our machineguns and they jammed on the brakes and started jumping out. . That was when we gave them the works. I had not bothered to reload, but just turned round my rifle and used it like a club.”

The correspondent adds: “This Kiwi came back loaded with trophies, including a German Tommy-gun, two Mauser automatics, and a steel helmet bearing the palm tree and swastika emblem of the North Africa Corps.”