Evening star., 1943-05-01
Africa
Continued From First Page.0

eral Communications Commits
sion, said the German COM
mander had issued an order of
the day, declaring: Forward,
whatever the cost. Behind you
is the sea. There can be no
question of retreat.')
me battle for Hill 523 was the
first important bayonet action by
Americans in Africa and French
observers said it recalled the Amer
ican charges at st. Mihiel and Bel
leau Wood in the last war. Neither
Germans nor Italians in Africa have
shown much taste for this weapon.
Maj. Gen. James H. Doolittle's
Mitchell bombers encountered en-
envy warships off Cap Bon yesterday.
They raked a cruiser with hits for
ward, amidships and astern and left
it a mass of smoke and flame and
apparently in sinking condition.
The MitchellS also hit and sank
destroyer, and other planes set fire
to a second destroyer which appar-
emily sank.
Five Burning HulkS.
The desert air force of bomb
carrying Kittyhawks put their full
effort against enemy shipping and
its heavy air cover" the commu-
nique said, and at sunset the sea off
Cap Bon was dotted with five burn
ing hulks-two merchant ships, one
OF $500 tons; a motor torpedo boat,
a Siebel ferry (Siebel ferry is the
German equivalent of tank land
ing craft, and large launch
Escorted by Spitfires, the Kitty
hawks also swept along the coast
and spread further destruction
among concentration of ships of
all varieties which the Axis had
pressed into service in a desperate
effort to get supplies to its Tunisian
force.
Qn addition, the British Ad--
miralty announced the sinking of
10 more Axis ships in the Medi-
terranean by submarines.
(Among the ships sunk, the
Admiralty said, was a large
tanker torpedoed near Maritime
Island while westbound on a
course for Tunis. She was escort
ed by an unusually large number
of surface craft and aircraft.")
Eight Planes Are Shot Down.
The aerial attack, which took
place over an area extending from
Ras el Milah on the east coast Of
Cap Bon peninsula to Ras ell Fort
ness on the Gulf of Tunis, encount-
cred an air umbrella of Axis fight
ers, but the Allied airmen drove
through it and shot down eight of
the enemy planes and damaged -
more. Five of the Kittyhawks were
lost.
Six Messerschmitts also went at
the Mitchells after the attacks on
the destroyers and cruiser, and an
other German plane was shot down.
AS a finishing touch the Allied
bombers blew up Kelibia Jetty near
the tip OF Cap Bon, and an RAF
Beauflghter made its own individ-
ual raid on Axis air communica-
tions, intercepting five Junkers-52
transports and shooting down all
five.
These operations absorbed the at
tention of enemy fighters to such an
extent that American and British
planes which supported the ground
troops by knocking out several gun
positions in the area southeast of
Medjel-el-Bab and raided the Tunis
and Sidi Ahmed airfields with block
busters and incendiaries encount-
cred hardly any opposition.
Messina Is Pounded.
The desert air force Liberators
also pounded at the Sicilian harbor
OF Messina yesterday, causing one
huge explosion and large fires near
the power station and ferry terminal.
Gen. Patton's forces gained three
important positions in the push
toward Bizerte and Mateur and took
200 prisoners yesterday, the Allied
communique said.
The day was marked by contin-
uation OF exceptionally heavy fight
ing on the LIST Army front, especially
IN the sector east and northeast of
Medjez-el-Bab, where the enemy
launched repeated counterattacks
against our recently gained posi-
tions," the communique said.
I'm one area our forward troops