COMING JUNCTION IN

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 101, 23 January 1943, Page 5

COMING JUNCTION IN

TUNISIA Effect On Situation

LONDON, January 21.

The Under-Secretary for War, Lord Croft, said in London today that we had hopes that before many weeks were over we would hunt the Axis ar,my out of Tripolitania and join up with the gallant American and British troops coming from the west. The “Evening Standard’s” correspondent at the Allied headquarters in North Africa says, “An effective union of Rommel’s Afrika Korps with tlje German forces in eastern Tunisia will present the Allied commanders with the most difficult tactical situation they have yet faced in North Africa. It is unlikely that the Allies will be able to launch anything more than limited attacks to prevent the union. Such attacks will hamper, but not prevent, a junction of the two armies, and their formation into a formidable force estimated at 160,000 at least, operating on supply lines considerably shorter than ours. . “If this force could hold the bridgehead in Tunisia till the end of the summer, our use of North Africa as a base for operations against the European coastline would be impossible. There is every reason to believe the Germans will attempt to make such a stand, and even launch strong local offensives through Mateur and Mejez el Bab.. Nobody here is optimistic over the Allies’ chance of preventing the armies’ joining, nor does anyone consider the coming campaign to oust, the Germans will be anything but long, arduous, and costly. Pause By Eighth Ariny? .

“It is certain that General Montgomery will follow Rommel over the Tunisian frontier, but after the delay of tho last few months it is improbable that the Eighth Army will be able to assault the enemy’s positions without spending a considerable time in resting, regrouping and consolidating. We must realize first that the enemy will within a month become numerically as strong as, or stronger than the Allies, with more experienced commanders; second, that they will receive sufficient supplies to light a prolonged defensive action, and third, that the Allies in Tunisia cannot afford immediately to launch a full-school attack against the junction of the two German armies.”

Reuter’s correspondent in North Africa says the Germans are now strengthening the Mareth Line, 65 miles inside Tunisia, and are bringing supplies up to it from Tripoli. It really consists of three defence lines with concrete emplacements and pillboxes. If the forces joined, lira correspondent says, they would be in a position to put up a long and desperate fight.