FIGHTING FRENCH FORCES

Timaru Herald, Volume CLIII, Issue 22553, 10 April 1943, Page 4

FIGHTING FRENCH FORCES

Associated With New Zealanders Tebaga Gap Attack NEAR GABES, April 8 Among the Forces under General Sir Bernard Freyberg's command for the left hook movement he led through the Tebaga Gap was a Fighting French column under the distinguished French leader. General Le Clerc. These men are part of the force General Le Clerc led 2000 miles across the Sahara from Lake Chad to link up with the Eighth Army in Southern Tripolitania. They were men so inured to the desert and its hardships that they have long since ceased to find them anything remarkable. Their chief anxiety is to get to grips with the enemy. This they have done with the most satisfactory results to themselves and most unsatisfactory for Germans and Italians on several recent occasions. The majority of the rank and file of the French Force are natives of the Chad Province, very similar in appearance to the famous Senegalese coloured troops, and possessing much of their militant fibre. The officers are invariably Frenchmen, also the majority of the N.C.O’s. Officers and men alike wear the übiquitous battledress, but with the distinctive French kepi in the case of the officers and a red head-dress like a large fez in the case of the men. Many of the officers are generously bearded. Tremendous Morale

This Fighting French Force has a tremendous morale which was heightened by the successful operations they engaged in under General Freyberg. When the New Zealanders and British armour artillery, comprising the force which was to breach Tebaga Gap, left Medenine on March 12 and proceeded to their assembly point in the desert near El Chemal, the Fighting French were already ahead and carried out two actions, first at Ksarrhilane and then at El Outid which they cleared of the enemy on the route of our advance. At Ksarrhilane the French, were considerably assisted by Royal Air Force low flying aircraft which played havoc with the German armoured forces opposing them, while at El Outid New Zealand sappers assisted them in dealing with minefields and obstructions after the French had successfully dislodged the enemy from their gun positions. As General Freyberg's force moved up through Dahar the Fighting French co-operated, providing a protective flank screen and continued this role after the break through Tebaga Gap and the advance on Gabes. During fighting for the gap, which began on March 21 and ended with the victorious thrust on March 26. the French operated in rough hilly country on flanks where they engaged in sharp brushes with Italians and Germans, capturing prisoners and equipment. During this stage of the advance they were operating in difficult country, but possessing the advantage of having been carefully prepared, and they played an important part in the success of the whole difficult operation. Many of the native soldiers forming the bulk of this French column had never seen the sea till they joined the Eighth Army in Tripolitania. and they were among the enthusiastic bathers when the pace of the pursuit temporarily slackened and many men of the Eighth Army were able to visit the beaches.

Another section of the Fighting French in the Middle East comprised men drawn from the French Colonies of Oceania and particularly New Caledonia where New Zealand troops are now stationed.