The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-03-25

tween 70 and 30, tanks including some of the big Mark Wis, the third in southwest of Fl Hamma where . British column that swept around the southern end of the Mareth line is menacing Rommel'S flank, and the fourth Is fighting int ne shambles at the Mareth Line.
 Tho Americans In the Fl 0uet- tar sector altered their tactics some what and surprised tho Germans on Tuesday, Cunningham wrote, Herc- toEore the U, s, forces have been withdrawing their main units after m attack. Before dawn Tuesday, the Americana attacked and estah- lished some positions in the El 0uettar region. On Tuesday morn inn the Axis forces counter-attack- cd, expecting that the American had followed their customary tactics and withdrawn their main units leaving only . holding force, In- stead, the Americans held their po- sitions in force and the German arnor ran Into . highly dcStruc- tive fire. They retreated, leaving be- hind the burned out tanks which Cunningham mentioned he had seen from tho hill.
 The Allied Ar Force was winning control of the Tunisian skies. Yes aerday's score was 10 enemy planes destroyed against n loss of four Al. lied aircraft, In addition, the Allied bombers carried out destructive raids on enemy supply lines ana bases,
 One of the heaviest raids was made by American Flying Fortress es, escorted by P-38 Lightnings and British Spitflres, against the docks at Ferryville near Bizerte yesterday, One Royal Air Force pilot described the Fortresses' bombing as the most accurate I have ever seen" One medium and two small mer- chant ships were hit and flames leaped 800 feet into the air from the dock area.
 In some cases the Axis could not even get its planes off the ground in time to oppose the raiders. Twice yesterday American Billy Mitchell medium bombers and Marauders struck at the Djebel Tebaga air. port between Gabes and Sax. on the first raid the pilots of the Mitch- els saw their bombs burst among 70 or 50 grounded planes. In the next attack several more of the planes were damaged and the run ways were plastered.
 20 Vehicles Destroyed
 At least 20 enemy vehicles, includ- ing 10 tanks, were destroyed by fighters and fighter-bombers which came in at head-top levels to blast the enemy around Fl Ouettar.
 The text of today's Allied comu- nique:
 "On the Eighth Army front, the battle for the Mareth line continued yesterday with heavy artillery duels on both sides.
 "In the Oafsa sector, American patrols carried out offensive opera tiOns with success. Fighting con- tinues in the Maknassy area and our troops have made local gains From northern Ttlnisia there IS nothing to report.
 "Air: Extensive operations by our air forces continued during the night of March 23-24 and yesterday. Dur ing the night operations, enemy concentrations between Mareth and Gahes and an enemy air field and motor transport on the road. be- tween Sousse and Sfax were bombed
 Yesterday bombers Of the north west African air forces attacked the docks at Ferryville. Hits were ob- served all over the dock area and large fires were started. Other for- nations of b0mbers attacked enemy air fields where many bomb bursts were seen among aircraft on the ground.
 Tight bombers attacked enemy troop9 and vehicles southeast of El Guettar. Fighter bombers and fght- CTS destroyed a number of enemy vehicles in low level attacks.
 "Light and medium bombers Of the western desert air force attacked many enemy forces in the Mareth area. Low flying aircraft made two attacks on enemy vehicles in the El Hamma region. destroying sev- eral tanks and many other vehicles
 '"Ten enemy aircraft were de- stroyed in the course Of all these operations, from hich four of our aircraft are miszlng."