ALLIED DRIVES

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 107, 30 January 1943, Page 5

ALLIED DRIVES

East And North Of Mareth Line FIGHT NEAR ZUARA LONDON, January 29. Artillery duels were being fought out between forces of the Eighth Army and the enemy yesterday near Zuara, the enemy-held port near the Tunisian frontier. Allied forces in Tunisia itself are closing in on Rommel's army from the other side, and yesterday American troops were reported to be only 75 miles north of the Mareth line of defences.

A Cairo communique states: “Yesterday our troops continued their progress' westward. There were artillery exchanges in the coastal area near Zuara. Bad weather hampered air

"During Wednesday night successful attacks on railway communications in southern Italy and Sicily were resumed by low-flying aircraft, and yesterday other targets in these areas were again attacked. All the aircraft returned.” While General Montgomery's troops are closing in on Tunisia from the east, Algiers radio reports that American troops have reached the railway town of Maknassi, 75 miles from the town of Mareth, and 45 miles from tlie coast. This attack threatens not only the rear of the Mareth Line but also Rommel's chances of joining his main forces with the army in the north.

Algiers radio also reports great activity by British troops in northern Tunisia.

In the extreme south of Tunisia, General Giraud’s forces have taken a port and. in co-operation with'fleneral Leclerc's forces, have also occupied the oasis of Ghadames.

Terrain and Weather. LONDON. January 28.

The speed of Ihe Eighth Army's advance lias considerably slowed down because of the great number of obstacles, reports Morocco radio. The enemy destroyed the road leading to Tunisia and laid many minefields. 'The resistance of Rommel's rearguards is steadily increasing.

In spite of the Axis assertions that the Allies are opening large-scale movements in Tunisia, Reuter's correspondent with the first, army says that the fighting on the central front has again died down to routine patrolling, with Allies consolidating gains in hills in the Bou Arada'Pont du Fahs-Ousseitia triangle. The weather is still dictating the extent of the operations, and even small-scale movements are very difficult in the north and centre and practically impossible in the south, where the roads are mere trails. Nevertheless. a slight improvement in the weather has enabled our planes to resume a high intensity of strafing of the enemy's lines of communication. The reported American push toward the rear of the Mareth Line underlines the fact that von Arnim and Rommel have not only to calculate the strength of

the Eighth Army's push, but also to reckon with the possibility of the Axis armies being cut off or, at any rate, severely restricted, if they are forced to retreat much farther from the Tunisian border. Motley Axis Army. The Allied positions in northern Tunisia now run in a fairly straight line from Mejez cl Dab (35 miles west of Tunis) to a few miles west of Kairwan. It is estimated that Rommel now commands about 50,000 men, with possibly 100 tanks (states British Official Wireless). Probably only 20,000 of these are front-line soldiers: the rest are base and garrison troops picked up in the re-

treat. Arguments against making n ■permanent stand with such a force ou the Mareth Line are strong. The enemy's front, extending from the north coast west of Bizerta to the Mareth Line, would be 250 miles long, and the combined Axis force of 120,000 to 140,000 would be very thinly spread and unfavourably placed. It is expected therefore that the enemy will stay on the line only as long as he dares, and not long enough to risk a second el Alamein.