TERRIFIC BARRAGE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXII, Issue 263, 6 October 1942, Page 5

TERRIFIC BARRAGE

PRECEDED DESERT ADVANCE. LONDON, Oct. 4.

Tho correspondent of The Timea in the Western Desert sends a more detailed account of the British attack at Bir el Matassib on September 30 than hitherto lias been available. He says that the enemy had dug in in a very strong natural position. Every gun in the British line opend up early in the morning in a tremendous concentrated barrage. Troops moved forward, feeling their way delicately through pitch darkness. Guards guided them through difficult narrow gaps in the British minefields. The British dashed across the limited No Man’s Land before coming to the edge of the enemy’s extensive minefields which surrounded the entire position, and in which throughout the night British sappers made gaps. The British .advance was then made under a smokescreen by several columns. Most of the enemy objectives were on the northern side of Bir el Matassib, and immediate progress was made in that direction, despite strong enemy fire, barbed wire, minefields, and booby-traps, and by the middle of the morning the first two objectives were in British hands.

Progress on the southern side was not so successful. The British here had also to cope with exceptionally hard going broken ground. A column reached its objective, but as it happened so often in this part of the desert, could not hold its gains, as it was impossible to dig in. Continuous British artillery J barrages prevented the enemy bringing up 'reinforcements. The barrages were assisted by tho gallantry of a.n officer and five men who, before the attack, took up position inside the enemy lines. From this point they directed their fire. Five times the communication line was broken, and five times the men .went out into the hail of shells and bullets and mended it.

Enemy counter-attacks were beaten off, and the next day was spent in consolidating the gains. As a result of the attack, the British gained certainly two and possibly three of the four objectives. Interesting new arrivals in the ranks in the central sector on the Egyptian front are troops of the much-publicised Folgore Division, who are trained parachutists and are regarded by the Italians as the nations’ toughest fighters.