WITHERING FIRE

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24543, 27 March 1943, Page 7

WITHERING FIRE

GERMANS FORCED BACK FIRM AMERICAN STAND 1 SUCCESS AT EL GUETTAR (Reed. 7.30 p.m.) LONDON, March •-'<! United States forces have thrown 1 back an infantry attack on their 1 positions around El Guettar, on the : Gafsa-Gabes road. Here and in the Maknassy area the Americans are engaged in what one correspondent describes as their biggest military operation since the last war. Rommel threw in a large mixed force of tanks and infantry and some of the tanks got to within one and a-half miles of the American divisional headquarters before they were turned back From a ridge overlooking a valley facing the American forward positions, it was possible to count 15 enemy tanks which were knocked out in Tuesday's battle at El Guettar, says a correspondent cabling from Gafsa, A number of others temporarily put out of action were retrieved by the enemy during the night. Among those remaining in front of the ridge was a big Tiger, which was knocked out by the first shot. Jeeps Recover Tanks American sappers in jeeps buzzed about this locality dynamiting tanks and bringing back American tanks that had been knocked out in the previous day's battle. The enemy expended more than 100 shells in a futile effort to prevent the jeeps moving around. Our artillery was ready for a renewed enemy attack. A later message from a correspondent at Allied North African headquarters says the Americans repulsed further German attacks. The enemy also made a number of bombing attacks supporting tanks, which came out of a valley and fanned out toward the American positions. They were met by devastating fire and several were knocked out. They tried to carry the American positions, but were forced back by concentrated fire. The American infantry stood firm and repulsed the enemy infantry, which closely followed the tanks. Renter's Tunisia correspondent reports that the Germans in the Gafsa area suffered an important setback when American infantrymen and gunners stopped a big-scale attack dead in its tracks. Terrific Beating The Germans Hung in a substantial force of tanks against the American positions 10 to .15 miles east of El Guettar, olniouslv intending to clear the Americans from the entire Gafsa sector, but got nowhere. The Americans mauled some of Rommel's tank units and showed that they had learned much since the Germans drove them back through the Kasserine Pass last month. German infantry, consisting of two panzer and grenadier regiments, took a terrific beating. The Americans made slight progress eastward from Maknassy, but hard fighting is going on in an important area a little over six miles from Maknassy, just before the road leads into the coastal plain. The Americans are consolidating and digging in on the high ground called Jebel Boudabou ROMMEL'S DIFFICULTY FOUR DANGER SPOTS (Special Correspondent) LONDON, March - _'s Mr. Churchill's statement that Rommel had re-established his Mareth bridgehead came as a cold douche to the British public after the general impression had been gained that the foundation of victory had been laid. As the Times points out, the impression may still prove well-founded, but it looks as though the fight will be more furious and stubborn than first reports indicated. The Daily Telegraph's war correspondent at Allied Headquarters gives the opinion that the battle is developing according to General Alexander's plan. "The enemy is being forced to use his armour," the correspondent says, "to plug four danger spots—on the coast near Mareth, inland in the neighbourhood of El Hamma. on the Gabes-Gafsa road and in the Jtlaknassv area. That means it is goinc to be extremely difficult for Rommel to i concentrate for a full-scale blow against any one of theso sectors." PLANES CRASH IN LAKE AXIS LOSSES AT BIZERTA LONDON. March 25 The British United Press corresponI dent at an advanced Royal Air Force j aerodrome in Tunisia states that | Squadron-Leader Colin Gray, D.F.C., j son of Mr. and Mrs. R. L. Gray, of j Gisborne, shot down an Italian Macchi ! aeroplane in an air battle over Bizerta ! recently. His English friend, Flying-Officer | David Booth, of Surrey, scored his first | success in the same battle when ho j shot down a Messerschrnitt 109. Loth enemy planes crashed in Lake Bizerta | while 22 American Flying Fortresses bombed the port. Squadron-Leader Gray said: "We | surprised them while, they were trying ■ to make up their minds whether to j attack the Fortresses over Bizerta. i One of our flights went after four ! Messerselunitts. I saw the Macchi | down below and dived on him. I saw 1 three cannon shells hit him near the j cockpit. He started to spiral down. 1 thought: 'l'll never be able to claim this one,' but suddenly the Macchi hurst into flames and dived into the lake."