AXIS ATTACKS BEATEN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 50, 2 March 1943, Page 5

AXIS ATTACKS BEATEN

CAMPAIGN IN TUNISIA WITHDRAWAL IN KASSERINE AREA (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) Allied forces in northern Tunisia yesterday beat off another series of enemy attacks along a 70-mile front. To-day’s communique from Allied headquarters says our troops were successful in holding the enemy and inflicting heavy casualties in men and material. Further south the enemy withdrawal in the Kasserine area continues. A correspondent says the enemy attacks in the north were mainly a continuation of those launched on the previous day. The object of all the attacks was the same, to try to get through our lines, lay minefields, harass transport, and generally do as much damage as possible. In the wild, mountainous country near Cap Serrat, on the Mediterranean coast, it. was the Italians who attacked, and they were held by French troops.

At all the other points the Germans made attacks, and they came up against British troops who stood their ground, and who hit back hard.

We knocked out seven of their tanks, which means they have lost 14 for certain in the last couple of days. The number of Axis prisoners has grown to 850, and the correspondent says there is no estimate yet of the extent of the enemy’s killed and wounded.

One enemy thrust got through to a depth of about 10 miles, but after the enemy reached the road between Medjez el Bab and El Assoura they withdrew. We do not hold a continuous line on this 70-mile front, but have a series of strong-points. If the enemy makes several attacks at the same time he may slip through one or other of the valleys; but this is dangerous, as he runs the risk of being cut oft. This fact accounts for the Axis prisoners taken in the recent clashes.

The correspondent says that these attacks on the northern front are not only planned as one tactical move, but fit into the Tunisian campaign as a whole. Rommel is withdrawing in the central sector, moving south and east to meet the threat of the Eighth Army. The more the enemy can occupy our attention to the north the more chance Rommel will have of preparing for the big battle ahead. One thing appears certain from all the German land activities —that is, the enemy has plenty of fight left. Von Arnim’s troops in the north have been attacking in mud and rain and In heavy country under conditions imposing the greatest possible strain on infantry and the greatest difficulties on tank commanders.

Yesterday, the R.A.F. had a successful and busy day. They were especially active in the northern battle area where Hurri-bombers and Spitfires carried out strafing. Four direct hits were scored on a column ot trucks, and in another aea they bombed 50 enemy vehicles. In the south, Allied bombers attacked the airfield at Gabes. Eleven enemy aircraft were destroyed, and we lost two but one pilot is safe. There is now only 200 miles between the airfields of the Allied forces in central Tunisia and those supporting the Eighth Army. ‘

The main news from the Eighth Army, now well established before the Mareth Line, is that some of its armoured car patrols are now operating on the far side of the Mareth mountains away to the west of the line. A correspondent says the job ot the patrols is to probe the strength ot the enemy defences in this difficult country and gauge the possible resistance to any attempt to outflank the main Mareth fortifications from the west.

Malta's fighter-bombers have been over Sicily again. They attacked the airfield a Comiso and the seaplane base at Syracuse.

PROBING MARETH LINE

UNITS OF BRITISH FORCES (Recd. 6 p.m.) Rugby, Feb. 28. A correspondent in North Africa describes the Mareth defence system as shaped roughly like the letter Y, rather flattened at the top. The top right-hand stroke of the Y is the Mareth Line itself and a series of continuous defences along the Wadi Zigzou, a deep gully which crosses the coastal plain a mile or two south-west of Mareth village. The correspondent says the position now is that General Montgomery possesses all the country between the mountains and the sea to within a very short distance of the Wadi Zigzou. There shelling goes on between leading British units and enemy artillery in the main line, while British aircraft make repeated heavy attacks on positions in the strongly defended zone. Along the stem of the Y British forward positions rest along foothills, while the enemy still holds a good many of the positions higher in the hills, but British armoured patrols are steadily probing the defences and there have been clashes on the slopes with small enemy units. As for the left-hand stroke ot the Y, nothing more has been reported since the British occupation a few days ago of Ghermessa, on top of a plateau 22 miles south of Ksar el Halluf, where the strokes of the Y join the stem.

ENEMY PLAN FOILED

FIRST ARMY HOLDS GROUND (Reed. 6 p.m.) London. Feb. 28. Allied troops in a week-end of stiff fighting, have beaten off the ambitious six-point asault on a 70-mile front in North Tunisia. The Axis plan to cut'General Anderson’s lines to turn his positions and harry his supply routes have been foiled. Von Arnim’s blows were aimed against Allied positions which might have served as springboards for a large-scale offensive. The Axisites encountered tough First Army units, mostly British, who held their ground and hit back strongly. While Italians attacked in the Cap Serat sector, Germans were the attackers in the other live sectors. Reuter’s Algiers correspondent says von Arnim used 50 tanks and had heavy losses in proportion to the strength used.

Correspondents, detailing the most serious attacks in the Axis six-point thrust, say that the Germans attacking at Beja and in the Mateur Valley, made progress until the new Churchill tanks engaged them. The German attack near Medjez el Bab is at a standstill, while further south, near Goubellat. the group of German tanks which reached the Medjez el Bab-Aroussa road withdrew when thev thev failed to overcome the Allied strong-points. The German attacks against Bnuarada and Jebel Mansour were both dangerous, but all the onslaughts failed.

U.S. TROOPS

TESTED IN TUNISIA IMPORTANT LESSONS LEARNED (Recd. 8.20 p.m.) New York, Feb. 28. “The North African campaign has heen a testing ground for Americans similar to Spain for the Germans. Tile lessons learned here are of inestimable value for future larger-scale movements. Failure to observe them will certainly lead to unnecessary expenditure ot lives and substance.”

In these words Frank Kluckbohn, the North African correspondent of the New York Times, sums up his impressions of the engagements in which American troops have figured. “The most important lesson,” ha adds, “is that the Americans must work together in large units, maintaining their available forces in striking form instead of dispersing over large areas. Important lessons were likewise learned in fields armaments and technique. In the test of weapons and men the results are generally satisfactory from our viewpoint, but the Americans are weak in certain details which must be corrected. It has been definitely proven that our heavy artillery is superior. Our 155 and 105 field-pieces and howitzers unequal to any German weapon. Our accuracy of fire is definitely higher. Our light arms are superior, but the German intermediate weapons, such as 88’s and 75’s, have a decided advantage. The Americans, because of shipping difficulties, afe using 37m.m. anti-tank guns, which are useless against the German heavier anti-tank weapons or at long range against tanks advancing head on. Our General Sherman tanks are better armoured than the Mark IV., but our 75’s are inferior. In addition the German tanks have a much lower silhouette and do not provide a big target. “Contrary to popular notion,” adds Kluckbohn, “tanks fire only at a standstill, and are most useful when providing close-range artillery barrage. The game is never to advance against entrenched artillery but to make the enemy do so, for which reason the infantry is still queen of the battle. “Tanks, like planes, create breaches and provide cover, but only infantry can exploit the advantage. The Germans, who were forced to modify the use of tanks since the war began, know this. We are just beginning to realise that sufficient and good infantry is the answer to many problems. Incidentally, the British learned this lesson quicker than we. “It is argued that the Allies’ system of aerial attacks against Axis shipping, airfields, supply dumps and rear columns is more effective than aeroplane attacks at the front itself. None the less, dive-bombing and ground-strafing tends to demoralise the ground forces on both sides. Furthermore, from personal observation I am convinced that enemy attacks can be broken up by direct aerial attack—it has been done to us. The Germans’ ground and air coordination is superior, partially because of superior communications. The American bombers are better and more numerous, but our fighters are at a disadvantage against the Foke Wulf and Messerschmitt 109. Moraover. the pilots are more green.

“The American soldiers’ teamwork Is developing rapidly, and they have a fine offensive spirit. Our generals, like General Fredenhall, and the higher officers, are as good as or better than any Germans. However, the lieutenants and captains are not so well trained and schooled as is desirable. German organisation and coordination has bean developed through experience. We have much to learn in this regard. “In other words, even with superior resources in materials and manpower, we still cannot assume we know everything. Wo are lighting an experienced and fanatical enemy. We must match his every improvement in armaments and technique. We arc sure going to beat him, hut there is everything to lie gained by not blinking at the facts.”

ROMMEL’S POSITIONS BATTERED

SUSTAINED AIR ATTACKS (Recd 11.52 p.m.) London. March 1. Allied bombers are pounding Rommel’s Mareth Line positions in a manner reminiscent of the sustained battering inflicted on the enemy’s El Alamein position before the original break-through, says Reuter’s Cairo correspondent. The Axis forces are once again having to face round-the-clc?k attacks which make sleep impossible. and such a factor Is wearing down the enemy's resistance.