Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-12-29
Witness Describes
Artillery Attack on
African Mountain
Forced to Toke Cover
When Germans Return
Fire on Allied Forces
By WILLIAM H. SLOVENIAN,

BY WILLIAM H. SLOVENIAN,
War Correspondent Of The Star and Chi
caRo Daily News.
SIOUX EL-KHEMIS, Dec. "a ODE
layed The most dynamic Christ
mas eve of modern history was cele-
brated late this afternoon in the
neighborhood Of Medjez-El-B Bah,
when 1000 shells were dropped on
the side of a mountain by the COM
bined artillery batteries of the
United States and Great Britain,
Then the guards went in to clear
the place and it was a very sorry
Christmas indeed for the Germans
who were there.
Four of us realized reporters
dream when we arrived on a hill
overlooking Medjez-El-B exactly
three minutes before the most con-
centrated bombardment known to
Africa was scheduled to begin.
1t was raining like sin. We had
only gone there to visit the Amer
lean troops on Christmas eve and
had no idea that anything was going
to happen. So, with the luck of the
devil, we stood there, drenched but
happy, on our natural rostrum and
gazed spellbound as the whole
countryside around us roared and
spat steel toward the nearby noun
tain.
Sequel to Earlier Attack.
Djebel- is low, sprawling
mountain lying 6 to 7 miles north
of Medjez-El-Bab, just west OF the
road to Tebourba. 1t commands the
road and looks over Medjez- FL Bah
itself, and its tenure by the Ger
mans has been embarrassing. To-
days attack was a sequel to the
attack yesterday. in which British
units seized a number of key points
on it, but in which American units
that followed to take over after a
lapse of some four hours were forced
to retire.
Twenty five Founders and loss
were going off all around us. Stand
ing up on the skyline in the near
distance with its infestation Of Ger
boil with exploding shells.
AS the barrage died away and
darkness settled over the country
side, we could see great streams of
tracers from German heavy machine
guns firing at the attacking British.
After a time that seemed to stop
and we discovered later that most
of the positions had been overrun.
Most of the fire was directed to a
tiny area measuring $50 yards by
100 and all the shells were dropped
in "a minutes.
After the spectacle was concluded,
we were allowed to do our daily
ducking when the German counter
battery fire began to rain on our
neighborhood. They fired with vim
and vigor and at one moment there
were II shell bursts simultaneously
visible in our neighborhood.
Participants Identified.
Altogether it was just about as I'M
Christmaslike a Christmas eve as
you could have.
Later we dropped down to visit
some of our boys who had been cele-
brating Christmas in this unseemly
manner. Among the very tired citf-
zens we met were the following, and
it must be reported that they were
very tired indeed: Guy L. Howard,
jr., of Pennington, Me; Corpl James
Gals of Beallsville, Pa; Stanley
of Hatfield, Mass: Sergt.
Earnest J. Assick of Greenville. NJ
c.; Corpl. Robert Kremer of Phil
adelphia; Corp Robert Ellis of
Medford, Mass; Lloyd Rayner of
Dawson, Mich; Corpl. Thomas
Kelly of Philadelphia; Ellery T.
Roe. jr., of Rumford, R. I.
Capt R. E. Hume of Suffolk. Va:
Sergt. Eugene Carrigan of larry
town, N. Y; Corpl. Clarence Nogle
of LeWisburg, Pa: William Mat
tocks of Maysville, N c.: 1t. Lonnie
Thompson of High Point, N c.;
Francis Poore of Bolton, S. c.;
Norheet Jones of Mavsville, N. c.;
Edward Lynch. New York City: It.
Allwyn Williamson of Gary, Ind;
Corpl. Lewis Magliaro of Chicago
and Arthur Leeds of Chicago. All
wanted to say hello to their families
and friends.
Tire Goes Flat.
1t was still raining when we decided
to begin our 40-mile trek back to
Sioux Our Ford pro-
vided the usual surprise by produc-
ing a fiat tire and forcing us to
spend an unpleasant hour lying in
the mud trying to manipulate the
jack which doesn't work We
finally borrowed another and here
we are. coated with fine North
African mud from head to heels, but
happy to be here.
Christmas day-Now at 4 o'clock
in the morning it has begun to pour
again and we are obviously in for a
wet Christmas. The fields are al
ready a mass of mud and seem In
no condition for warfare Whether
this spell of bad weather is going
to interfere seriously with our plans
remains to be seen, but it is GER
tainly not going to assist them.