The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-04-01
Tunisia Ground Fighting Slows Down MOmlentar.
 lily Due to Mine Fields
DOWN I4 NAZI PLANES;
 DAMAGE 40 OR so MORE
Eighth Army Contact Rom meI's KOrps I2 Miles
 North of Gabes
BY VIRGIL PTNKEEY


 United Press Staff CoErespondentI
 Allied Headquarters, North Africa, April 1. - (UP) = An all-out Allied aerial of- fensive - including an un- precedented raid by about 100 Flying FortreSSes - rocked the Axis front and rear lines, a headquarters communique said today as ground fighting in Tunisia slowed down momentarily due to mine fields and Stiffer resistance.
 The Flying Fortress raid carried out by nearly 100 great four-motored planes, swept over southern Sardinia and blasted the important Axis port of Cagliari as well as Axis air. tlromes from which the enemy has tried to dominate the Mediterrar- can narrows. The homberS shot down l4 enemy planes.
 In addition to l4 enemy craft shot down during the raid, the Fortresses, without loss of single plane. destroyed B enemy planes on the ground and damaged e others, They struck Cagliari just after noon Wednesday with tllOuS- ands of bombs of all sizes. hitting five merchant ships two of which burst into flames. One coastal eliip and a smaller vessel were also hit and 19 small craft including schoon- CTS and motorboatS were damaged.
 Bomb bursts covered the indus trial section, enveloped the railroad station in smoke, hit a railroad re- pair shop and field pumping sta- tion and battered 2,O00-t0lf freighter.
 Forty-four of Il5 enemy aircraft on the BaSSi Mamonu airdroEne were damaged, the underground fuel depot was set ablaze and the ammunition unloading depot was plastered. At Monserrat airdrome l2 out of 34 aircraft on the ground were destroyed and at Villacidro airdrome one of six were destroyed.
 Everywhere along the front Allied planes swept the skies and gave the Luftwaffe the worst paSting of this campaign, shooting down 3l Axis aircraft while losing only i2. GA broadcast from radio Algiers said that at least 70 or 50 Axis planes were damaged in air combat during the Fortress raid and other opera tionS and that all of the Fortresses returny Safely).
 Liberat0rs Take Part
 The smashing attack by the Fort reSses was the heaviest such raid ever unleashed by these big ship2 in any theater of war. Qn the Enro- pean theater of operations the big gest American raid yet announced included li5 Fortress and Libera- tors. Another raid was said to have been larger but no figure was Speci- fled. Liberators also took part in the larger raidD.
 On the ground in TuniSia, the British Eighth Army was in con- tact with Marshal Erwin Rommel's battered Afrika KorpS a dozen miles north of Gabes where the enemy, having withdrawn through the Gabes bottleneck. apparently was putting up a Stiffer rear guard ac- tion in an effort to give Rommel plenty of time to carry out his retirement.
 British patrols had reached the enemy's prepared positions Q few miles north of Oudref. which is nine miles northwest of Gabes, and con- tlnued to make some progress but it was necessary to move up heavy guns to soften up the rearguard defenses for attack by British tanks ana infantry.
 In the central sector, American columns forged steadily but slowly ahead about IS miles east oG He Guettar on the road to Gabes. witb