FALL IMMINENT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25214, 1 May 1943, Page 5

FALL IMMINENT

PONT DU FAHS OUTFLANKED ALLIES’ PINCERS CLOSING LONDON, Apl. 29. The imminent fall of Pont du Fahs, which is outflanked on either side, is suggested in the latest despatches from Tunisia. The Algiers radio said the British from Goubellat are within three miles of the main Pont du Fahs-Tunis road, while French forces have occupied the western slopes of the Zaghouan Mountains and hold all the heights dominating Pont du Fahs. The next move of the French troops operating in the immediate outskirts of the town will be its capture. , The radio added that the Eighth Army is attacking Zaghouan from the south, and has advanced several miles to the north-east along the coast in the past few days. The Eighth Army renewed its attacks yesterday. Its chief opposition is not from the artillery fire which it has been getting for the past week, but from mines and demolitions. Great Tank Battle The latest news of the great tank battle for the Goubellat Gap, which began on the morning of April 23, is contained in a despatch from Reuter’s correspondent with the First Army, which says: “A British tank force equipped with Sherman tanks destroyed 19 tanks in the past 48 hours, although it has been dive-bombed, heavily shelled, and shot up by enemy tank-busting planes. Its first job was to capture a hill north of El Kourzia Salt Lake. As it advanced, General von Arnim’s panzers rolled downhill to meet it. The guns roared, and the fierce exchanges echoed across the plain as the armoured units clashed. The Shermans knocked out seyen enemy tanks and the remainder withdrew. The British reached the top of the hill and held on until relieved next morning. After a short interval the British tank men advanced again, and five panzers moved out from a wadi. The Shermans immediately opened up and destroyed all five of the enemy within less than five minutes at 1000 yards, range. On the same evening the spotted another enemy force, of which seven were destroyed. While this was going on a second British tank force towards the south end of El Kourzia engaged a German transport column in an action lasting a few minutes, in which 15 transport vehicles and a number of guns and motor cycles were destroyed. Enemy Feeling the Strain Discussing the Allied foothold on the Zaghouan Mountains, the Algiers correspondent of the Columbia Broadcasting System says: “This is really important. because it means we now control the hills dominating the plain of Pont du Fahs, as well as all (he roads north across the plain to Tunis. The Germans are really beginning to feel the squeeze down there. Zaghouan is at the northern side of the oarrier the Eighth Army is attacking from the south, so the Germans in between are in an unpleasant strategical position. They are starting to thin out.” Reuter’s Algiers correspondent reports that British infantry have occupied Sidi Ahmed, 10 miles north-north-east of Mejez-el-Bab and north of the Teburba road.

“The Allies’ outstanding advantage in North Africa is definite air superiority," said the United States Secretary for War, Mr H. L. Stimson, at a press conference in Washington. He added that from March 29 to April 24 Allied flyers destroyed 1064. enemy planes, of which 859 were combat planes and 205 transports. The Allies lost 2vo.