GALLANT INFANTRY

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24423, 5 November 1942, Page 3

GALLANT INFANTRY

ADVANCE BY NIGHT ANOTHER GREAT BARRAGE LONDON. Nov. 3 The big British attack in Egypt opened with an infantry move soon after midnight on Sunday, says Renter's correspondent. The new push was toward the south from the coastal region, where the Axis forces are hemmed between the railway and the sea. Infantry under a waning moon moved up to attack in the region of Tel el Akakir. which is a stony ridge 100 ft. high. Shells from our guns, which had put up a brisk barrage, continued to stab the darkness, while German flares, fired in an attempt to discover what was happening, increased the eeriness of the scene. Infantry, hacking at the enemy's hastily-wired defences. worked their way forward while the sappers searched for mines. Sappers and infantry had to fight their way through minefields, strong points, booby traps and other obstacles. Armoured Battle Joined Then the tanks moved off in the thin light of dawn, and the armoured battle was joined as soon as th » light was good enough to see along the Tel el Akakir ridge. The correspondent of the Associated Press says the attack began over a 4000 yd. front, and by morning had reached a point where there were rio fixed enemy defences ahead. The second greatest barrage of the campaign, which opened the attack, began at 9.5 p.m. on Sunday and lasted without interruption until 5 a.m. on Monday. Following the break-through by the British infantry, they were set on by the Afrika Korps, but Eighth Army tanks came up immediately and engaged the enemy. Tlicy knocked out many tanks and killed many escaping Germans. Our tanks and armoured cars passed through the wide gap made by the infantry and collected forward

of the bridgehead. Australians Hold Position The Times' correspondent says the new advance penetrated for several utiles. By dawn our troops had created a gap through which the armoured forces were able to churn forward into more or less open country. A battle soon developed against the enemy's armour, and raged all day. While this drive was progressing, the Germans and Italians in the pocket attempted to break out, with the assistance of attacks from other enemy detachments from the direction of Sidi Abd el Rahman. The Australians thus faced attacks from east and west, but, fighting magnificently, thoy held their ground, and the enemy in the pocket remains cut off. BRITISH PRISONERS

WORK ON POLISH FARMS (Kecd. 1 a.m.) LONDON, Nov. I The Tiincs' correspondent in Stockholm says the Germans have confirmed a report that British prisoners off war are working on Polish farms. They are strictlv segregated from the Poles and apparently are employed on confiscated land which is earmarked for German colonists.

BRITISH COASTAL SHIPS LONDON. Nov. a Discussing transport problems in Britain, the Minister of War Transport, Lord Leathers, paid a tribute to coastal shipping. Mo said that perhaps the most outstanding fact ahout it was that, after three years of war, and in spite of attacks from the air. by surface craft and submarines and mines, Britain had a. greater volume of such shipping than in peace time. The coastal ships helped to relieve the strain on the inland transport system. They had moved cargo, and particularly bulk cargoes, round Britain's shores. British coasters had made some 2"5.000 voyages yearly around the coasts, and this had involved already more than TOO coastal convoys and practically continuous work by all concerned,