Evening star., 1943-03-27
New Offensive
Near Fondouk
|mperi|s Sousse
9th Army Makes
Successful Attack
On Mureth Positions
By the ASsocia ted Press.

By the Associated Press.
American troops were report
ed making good headway" in a =
surprise new offensive toward
Fondouk, in Upper Central Tu- -
nisia, today, and Allied head
quarters announced the British
9th Army had struck against the :
Mareth Line in successful at
tack.
The drive toward Fondouk. IS
miles below the big Axis air base at
kalrOuan. raised a threat to the Port =
Of Sousse. The attack north of Faid
Pass, was begun after American
armor had repulsed company of :
German infantry which attacked at
dawn east of Maknassy, more than
100 miles to the south.
The Ell Guetar area to the south-
west of MaknasSy, remained quiet. :
9Th Army Gaining.
An Allied COmmuniQue said Gen.
Sir Bernard L. Montgomery's as
Sault on the Mareth works was pro-
ceeding with satisfactory results
in spite Of stiff resistance"
Many prisoners were reported taken.
At the same time. the British 1st
Army was reported to be laShing out
against the forces of Col. Gen Jur-
gen Won Arnim in the Northern
TuniSia sector around Tunis and
Bizerte. The Communique described ,
the action as reconnaissance in
force
A Berlin broadcast by DNB, heard
in London, said crack British troops
had been observed in the Mediez- -
El-Bab area and that the bringing
up of additional artillery and range
finders indicated powerful break -
through attempts were being pre-
pared by the British and Americans
in the Pichon and Ousseltia fronts =
in Northern and Central Tunisla,
Fresh U. S. Units Arrive.
The broadcast said prisoners
brought in confirmed that fresh
! American units had arrived and ,
that the crack British troops had
recently come from England The
movement of British and American
columns was considerably increased.
DNB added.
1t was not certain, from the Allied
announcement, whether the 6th
Army had won its new success in the =
Zarat area northeast of Mareth,
where bridgehead was established
across the Wadi Zigzaou last week =
| end and then lost during German
Counterattack. or whether Gen.
Montgomery was striking at a new
point.
The 9th Army, at grips with the =
enemy in some Of the blttcrest fight
ing yet witnessed in Africa, con-
tlnued to receive the heaviest sup =
port from Allied air forces which
I maintained bomb and machine gun
assaults on German and Italian :
! forts, gun positions, troop COnCen-
tratlons, tank parks and airfelds.
It was estimated at headquarters
| that between so and 100 enemy We
| hiCles were destroyed from the air s
yesterday.
Heavy Aerial Attacks. =
There was an almost continuous
air pounding of the enemy'S con-
centration at FL HANNA. 20 miles
west Of Gabes and behind the
Mareth Line. but for the third sue
/ cessiye day the Communique failed
to mention the situation of the
British armored forces which hai~
/ Sklrted the flank of Marshal Erwin
Rommel and approached to within
miles of that crossroads in the =
desert.
Fighter -bombers of the western
desert air force Knocked out u gun
| positions and set fire to at least 40
of so Axis vehicles in the vicinity q
of Ell HANNA in a bllstering three
hour attack yesterday, Allied quar-
ters at Cairo reported
The British 1st Army patrols we're
out IN force in the Mediez-el-Bab
and Bou Arada areas, the naturalS
! Springboard for any Allied offensive
IN the northern sector, where the
advance units are about 40 miles~
from the coast.
The communicate said some pris-
oners were captured and casualties
were inflicted.
British Bisley bombers ranging
over the Axis supply lines hit two
tSee AFRICA, Page A-2)