The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1943-05-05

American troaas also captured
Eddekhila, six miles west of Te-
bourba on the central front, soon
after dawn today wednesday,, &C
cording to United Press front dis
patches, which said that the Ger
mans ineffectively bombed Mateur
and attacked nearby bridge yes
terday.
The capture of Eddekhila was
important because it was part of a
drive with the British First Army
designed to crack the enemy noun
tain defenSes along the edge of the
Tunis Plain. The Germans had
Withdrawn 10 miles eastward from
Hill 609 to high ground around Ed
dekhila where the American at
tackled quickly i'll an effort to pre-
vent the enemy from swinging his
defenses northWaId against Ameri-
can armored units based on Mateur.
French Gain Steadily
Advances on all important Sec
tors of the last enemy held noun
tain barriers west Of Tunis we've
reported, with the French gaining
two miles in the area southeast Of
Pont Du FahS and the British First
Army only about 20 miles from the
Tunisian capital after knocking out
81 more Nazi tanks and probably
destroying two others.
The heaviest fighting on Tues
day centered in the Djebel BoU
Aoukaz sector, II miles northeast OF
MerjeZ- El-Bab, where British ar
more-piercing guns wrecked most OF
II attacking Nazi tanks, in
Guiding giant Mark V vehicles.
But the swiftest gains again were
on the northernmoSt sector near
BiZerte, where the United States End
Corps and French forces were fan
ming out from captured Mateur III
drives northWard toward the naval
base and southeastWard toward Te-
bourba and Tunis.
A five-mile advance northTard
was scored by the Americans ON
the road to FerryVille, which lies
between Lake Ackel and Lake Biz
erte and forms part of the naval
base installations.
North of Lake Achkel, American
and French forces pushed advance
elements to within ten miles Of
Bizerte, while east OF Mateur the
Americans repulSed weak but des-
perate ene:ly counter attacks in
the Hills beyond the river Tine.
On the road southeast of Ma
teur-Where the American thrust
threatens to flank the main Axis
hill defenseS west of Tunis-the End
corps units advanced five miles
toward an important pass.
The Americans were not yet meet
ing intense opposition in their eff
forts to close in on Bizerte, although
it was regarded as certain that a
hard battle for the naval base was
in prospect. One United States
column, aided by French Counters.
swung around the west shores Of
Lake Achkel through heavy scrub to
Djebel Chemti on the north side Of
the lake, where they took up posi-
tons about noon Tuesday.
1t was at this point that the Ger
mans made moderately strong
counter attack which was repulsed.
The Americans continued to adj
vance up a nearby hill, which DOM
mates the cross roads northwest of
Ferryville.
Enemy Threatened
AS a result, enemy positions at
Ferryville were threatened from
both the south and northwest.
Another American column push
ing southwest fro"l Mateur crossed
the River Tine and reached Djebel
MaEna, eight miles southeast of
where a weak enemy coun-
was repulsed. Djebel
Makna is the first ridge reached by
the Americans after crossing east
ward over the Tine.
The American thrusts south and
southeast of the Mateur zone were
coordinated with the British First
Army operations on the central Sec
tor east OF Medjez-El- Bah In an eff
fort to pierce or flank the German
positions and break into the Tunis
plain.
The American End corps sent
message to Allied headquarters pay
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