THIS WAS TODAY: Current Events April 7, 1943: The British Eighth army has broken through the Axis hill and Wadi defenses north of Gabes, and American troops have mopped up Germans on the Djebel Maizila, north of Maknassy, and advanced east of El Guetar in a coordinated squeeze of Marshal Erwin Rommel, latest reports from the front said today.

    THE GETTYSBURG TIMES

                            GETTYSBURG, PA., WEDNESDAY EVENING, APRIL 7, 1943

British Smash Rommel's New Defenses

With 500 Guns: Take 6000 Prisoners

Yank Forces

Help Squeeze

"Desert Fox"

By DANIEL DE LUCE

A l l i e d Headquarters in North Africa, April 7 (AP)—

The British Eighth army has broken through the Axis hill

and Wadi defenses north of Gabes, and American troops

have mopped up Germans on the Djebel Maizila, north of

Maknassy, and advanced east of El Guetar in a coordinated

squeeze of Marshal Erwin Rommel, latest reports from

the front said today.

Take6,000 Prisoners

Seizing two high hills which dominated the new defenses

along the Wadi El Akarit, 20 miles north of Gabes. the British

held these strong points through violent German counterattacks

after a breakthrough behind a heavy artillery

barrage and an Allied head quarters communique

said they captured 6,000 prisoners, mostly Italians.

AXIS LOST LAST

STRONG POST IN

SOUTH TUNISIA

By DEwrrr MACKENZIE

General Montgomery's smashing new victory, as disclosed by British

Prime Minister Churchill In the House of Commons today, would

seem to have deprived, the fleeing Rommel of the last strong Axis

position in southern Tunisia. Mr. Churchill is an able reporter

and a grand announcer. Let's hope he doesn't lose his voice.

What has happened is that Montgomery has driven Rommel from

the powerful defenses of the Wadi El Akarit. a gorge-like valley about

twenty miles north of the port of Gabes. This feat was achieved by

the hell-for-leather British Eighth Army in hand-to-hand fighting after

a terrific artillery and aerial bombardment of enemy positions.

                                        Prisoners Pouring In

_

P-40 Pilots

In Tunisia

Are Tagged

Guerrillas

(The spectacular feat of one group of P-40 fliers In knocking

down 34 Nazi planes In eight days Is the envy of every other

Yank squadron In Tunisia. Here Is the story behind their

performance as written by Capt. Jay Vessels, public relations

officer who formerly was an Associated Press and Minneapolis

newspaperman.)

By JAY VESSELS

An American Air Base in Tunisia, April 3 (Delayed) (AP)—The combat

boys on the North African front are beginning to learn firsthand—

and certainly so are the Heinies—what the French meant back in the

earlier days of the Tunisian battle when they tagged the P-40's "The

Guerrilla Fighters.

They are beginning to know because the P-40 lads are stamping

their flaming brand into Jerry's groaning carcass with a ferocity that,

unswervingly sticks to the rugged tradition established by their former

leader, the fiery Lieut. Colonel Philip G. Cochran, 32, of Erie, Pa.

A big part of the fighter show on the sector that became so hot

when Rommel's Africa Corps made its late March bid formerly was run

by Cochran. He headlined the show and his daring performances

made him a legend with the French because they were the ground force

mainstay and were amply qualified to know the results that the dynamic

little fighter chieftain consistently obtained.

                                                    Deeds of Valor