Word: hamma
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Dates: during 1943-1943
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Tactical Force. When General Sir Bernard L. Montgomery saw his early frontal attacks on the Mareth Line at Wadi Zig-zau fail, and saw his small flanking movement headed for El Hamma begin to succeed, he said: "Let's reinforce success." He pulled out much of his armor and more infantry and poured them south on a series of forced and camouflaged marches by night. The force made an extraordinary 200-mile dash across desert as trackless as the sky, building its own dust storms. Armor and the truck convoys made the whole desert stink like a garage, according...
Rommel, who is never blind, sensed the move and shifted a Panzer division to El Hamma. The flankers, men whom Montgomery had used before for shock jobs-the 2nd New Zealanders under Lieut. General Sir Bernard C. Freyberg-drew themselves up for attack. Then, on a Friday afternoon at 4 p.m., came a violent and perfect expression of the use of tactical air force...
...that zero hour almost the entire number of light and medium aircraft assembled by the Allies in North Africa concentrated on the tight area near El Hamma where Rommel had his 88-mm. guns, his armor, and his Italians. Before each stick of bombs hit the earth, new sticks, and after them still other sticks, left the bomb bays. The bombardment lasted two and a half hours. Artillery chimed in toward the end, and when the bayonets finally slit forward, there was nothing left that could be called resistance...
...south of the Mareth Line, British and Fighting French units had made a wide sweep and were clawing their way towards El Hamma. Rommel sent German armor to bend back this threatening arm. Allied armor and an "unprecedented" onslaught of aerial power met the German column. So terrific was the air attack that even veteran Germans wilted. Only 20 miles from Gabès, the column drove on, threatening to close Rommel's corridor of retreat (see map). At that juncture, Montgomery shifted and struck again at the Mareth Line...