STORY OF BRITISH ACTION

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 6 October 1942, Page 5

STORY OF BRITISH ACTION

HARD GOING IN DESERT TWO OBJECTIVES CERTAINLY GAINED “The Times" correspondent in the Western Desert sends a more detailed account of the British attack on Bir LI Matassib on 30th September than hitherto available. He says the enemy was dug in in a very strong' natural position. Every gun in the British line opened up early in the morning in a tremendous concentrated barrage and 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 a limited “No Man’s Land” before coming to llie edge of the enemy’s extensive minefields which surrounded the entire position and in which British sappers throughout the night made gaps. The British advance was then made under a smoke screen by several columns. Most of the 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 trops, and by the middle of the morning of Ist October two of the 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 on broken ground The column reached its objective, but as has happened so often in this part of the desert, they could not hold their gains, as it was impossible to dig in. Continuous British artillery barrages prevented the enemy from bringing up reinforcements. The barrages were assisted by the gallantry of an officer and five men, who before the attack took up a position inside the enemy lines. From this point they directed the fire. Five times the line was broken and five times men went out into a hail of shells and bullets and mended the line. Enemy counter-attacks were beaten off and the next day was spent in consolidating gains. A result of the attack was that the Britain gained certainly two and possibly three of four objectives. P.A.