STERN DEFENCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25213, 30 April 1943, Page 3

STERN DEFENCE

ENEMY FORTIFICATIONS MASSING OF ARTILLERY (Rec. 10 p.m.) LONDON. Apl. 29. “The German predilection for heavy long-range artillery is serving them in good stead in their defensive mountain positions,” says the Algiers correspondent of The Times. “Our artillery has been magnificent. It is largely a case of blasting a way through, for, as the Eighth Army general says, these mountains just swallow up men. With the enemy dug in in narrow slit trenches every hill demands a major operation for its capture. “The enemy had few guns on the - Eighth Army front when we began the attack; now he has a large concentration,” the correspondent adds. “ This is only one indication that he is doing all that is possible to hold the Eighth Army and thus guard his bridge-head. His forces are fighting harder than anyone connected with the Eighth Army has known them to fight before. The Italians, as well as the Germans, are fighting desperately. The Italian prisoners from Takrouna and Jebel Garci are the type who not only speak of ‘lmperial Destiny,’ but fight for it. Maybe we outnumber the Axis infantry, but here in the mountain country the defensive role has an advantage over the offensive. Although the First Army may have the best approach to the enemy’s last ditch, the Eighth . Army can and will. ‘ eat his vitals out.’” * The correspondent of the Associated Press of America with the Eighth Army says, the Germans have massed the heaviest concentrations of artillery they have yet employed outside of Russia to prevent the Eighth Army from breaking through from the south. General Montgomery is employing even greater artillery strength. The thunder of guns echoes day and night now. that the British troops have come up against the enemy’s principal fortified line. The British artillery has the advantage in number and skill in the concentration of fire, but the Germans at the moment have the advantage in range. Enfidaville and Takrouna remain within range of the big German howitzers, which lob 2641 b shells into the British lines. General von Arnim has also concentrated thousands of infantry along the 18-mile front facing General Montgomery. They are well entrenched behind minefields. Behind the infantry stand the panzers, ready to move in any direction where an Allied advance threatens. The enemy’s advantage in terrain, however, is being offset by the Allied air force, which is dominating the skies to an extent unparalleled in this war since the Luftwaffe ruled over the battlefields of Greece and Crete.