N.Z. Infantry Swept In From Desert To Trap Rommel’s Men

Northern Advocate, 21 December 1942, Page 3

N.Z. Infantry Swept In From Desert To T rap Rommel’s Men

(Received 10.30 a.m.) LONDON, December 20. TWENTY AXIS TANKS WERE DESTROYED, 500 PRISONERS 1 AND 30 GUNS WERE CAPTURED, AND SEVERAL HUNDRED VEHICLES DESTROYED AND OTHERS DAMAGED DURING THE BATTLE ALONG THE COAST ROAD FOLLOWING THE CUTTING OFF OF ONE OF ROMMEL’S PANZER DIVISIONS BY NEW ZEALAND INFANTRY AND BRITISH TANKS ON DECEMBER 15.

The battle raged for three days. It was one of the toughest engagements since the beginning of the present push. The New Zealanders, after an epic sweep through the desert, took up positions southwards of Matratin. A considerable portion of Rommel’s Panzers were trapped between the New Zealanders and other British forces advancing up the coast road. The New Zealanders dashed into action and got on the road at the rear of the enemy. British armoured forces then advanced from a point southward of Suera, which is due south of Mersa Brega. They got among the Panzers southwards of El Agheila. Handle Panzers Roughly “

The armoured forces met stiff resistance on the causeway at the junction of the road from Marada with the main coast road. The Germans here realised that the position was desperate and, pursued by our tanks, gradually withdrew into the ranks of the New Zealand Division which was coming up along the main road in the panzer's rear.

kilometres westward of Nofilia. The furthest point where a rearguard action was being fought was at East Sultan. “In their hurried retreat the Germans probably are unable to lay as many mines as they did before being outflanked " Heavy Blow for Rommel Another correspondent says our advanced elements are now fighting 125 miles westward of El Agheila. and. in order to keep in touch with the German rearguard covered 65 miles in two days, which confirms Rommel's haste to_get out of the actual battleground. He is far from having recovered from the hard blow dealt him at the Marble Arch-Wadi Matratin trap where he must have suffered heavy punishment, says this correspondent. His resistance at Nofilia was of the slightest nature. He seemed to rely only on mines and booby traps to check our advance. His forces were continually harassed and strafed by the R.A.F. which is meeting hardly any opposition. EA.F.’s Quick Work

The enemy broke up into groups and began darting through gaps in the New Zealanders' ranks. Fighting became confused with the panzers being very roughly handled. Prisoners were captured and retaken on both sides. We lost some men but casualties were very slight. Our material losses were also comparatively light.

60 Miles West of Sirte

A Cairo communique says that throughout Saturday our advance forces continued to follow up the retreating enemy rearguards. Again large-scale tighter operations were carried out against the enemy. Targets which were attacked with considerable success were principally transport .columns as far west as Buerat, 60 miles beyond Sirte. Enemy activity, which was on a smaß scale, did not hinder our operations. Transport and buildings at Buerat were successfully bombed on Friday night.

One Cairo correspondent says that by flying a complete wing of fighterbombers on to a heavily-mined landing ground at Libya scarcely 48 hours after the enemy abandoned it, the R.A.F added a brilliant chapter to the air war in the desert. As dawn rose oh Friday morning a fleet of transport aircraft carrying personnel, petrol and bombs, accompanied by fighterbombers took off from the desert landing-ground. The aircraft landed according to schedule, and two hours later the first fighter-bombers drawn from squadrons of the R.A.F. and R.A.A.F. had been loaded with bombs and taken off to catch the unsuspecting enemy columns off their guard. Nofilia Evacuated A Cairo communique states that on Thursday Axis forces continued their withdrawal along the coast road after evacuating Nofilia, 100 miles westward of Agheila. Our forward troops maintained pressure on the retreating enemy rearguards throughout the day. Moving forward with land forces, Allied fighter-bombers were able to operate from new advanced bases yesterday and carried out successful attacks on the retreating enemy in the Sultan area, about 40 miles northward of Nofilia.

Tunis and La Gouletta were attacked the same night and large fires were started in the railway marshalling yards at Tunis. At La Gouletta, oil storage tanks were hit. Fires were also started at Comiso airfield in Sicily. The enemy was also active on Friday night. A large formation of bombers approaching Malta was engaged by our night fighters which shot one down and forced others to jettison their bombs at sea. Some damage was done but our offensive night operations were maintained. Four large enemy aircraft, flying towards Tripolitania, were shot down yesterday by cur lang-range fighters. From these operations three of our aircraft are missing. Fuller Version

General Freyberg commanded the strong New Zealand column which, it is now revealed, got round behind Rommel’s rearguard on Wednesday after a journey of almost 600 miles. After completing brilliant encircling movements the New Zealanders fought a solid battle, destroyed 20 enemy tanks, took 500 prisoners and captured 30 guns. Several hundred vehicles were destroyed and many more damaged. General Freyberg’s column cut off a considerable portion of the panzer army. Then British armoured units started following up. The infantry was hampered by hundreds of mines laid by the fleeing Germans. Armoured units were sent into the lead and attacked the enemy rearguard southward of Agheila. The enemy put up considerable resistance in the causeway running along the coast west of Agheila, but were forced to flee by the solid attacks of the British armoured force. The New Zealanders, sweeping north, reached Wadi Matratin. but. by then, much of the panzer army was already east of them. A battle developed with the New Zealand Division out in front, and British armoured units coming up in Rommel's rear. The enemy broke into scattered groups. There was heavy fighting as the enemy rearguard attempted to break through the New Zealanders and many prisoners were taken and retaken. In some places the desperate Germans burst through, but those who became entangled in the trap were badly mauled. Our casualties, both in men and materials, throughout this action were comparatively light. According to Algiers radio, the Eighth Army is now only eight miles from Sirie. Today's Italian communique refers to patrol clashes in the Sirte area. Break British Ring

Tunis and Lagouletta were heavily attacked by Allied bombers on Thudsday night. Fires and explosions resulted on the main line in La Gouletta Island. Tire same night long-range fighters shot down two enemy transport aircraft over a Sicilan aerodrome. Trapani and Marsala seaplane bases were also attacked and many aircraft were severely damaged with cannon and machine-gun fire. Four enemy transport aircraft containing troops flying north from Tripoli coast were attacked yesterday by longrange fighters. One troop-carrier was destroyed and others severely damaged. From these operations two Allied aircraft are missing.

More Axis forces westward of Wadi Matratin may be cut off as a result of a new flanking movement similar to that which forced Rommel’s rearguard to fight between Wadi Matratin and Marble Arch, says an Associated Press message from Cairo. The Eighth Army is hotly pursuing the rearguards which forced a way out of General Montgomery’s trap at Wadi Matratin. Thousands of Germans escaped the Eighth Army's encircling movement under cover of darkness when they threw ■ armour against a point between two Allied brigades and pushed through by sheer weight.

Morocco 'radio said the Eighth Army’s vanguard is 20 miles from Sirte. Still Fleeing It is authoritatively considered in London today that although it is still not clear what happened to the enemy rearguard between Marble Arch and Wadi Matratin, part of the enemy forces undoubtedly did manage to escape though casualties among the remainder were l m’obably Heavy. A correspondent with the Eighth Army cabled the following message on Saturday: “With tremendous distances and great difficulties in communications, it is impossible to know the extent of the damage and casualties caused by the Eighth Army’s advanced outflanking movement. The enemy, however, is still fleeing as fast as it possibly can, harassed by our forward elements.

“The enemy left Nofilia early yesterday morning, with troops, who had succeeded in outflanking him, well on his heels. Last evening rearguard actions were being fought about 30