AFRICAN CAMPAIGN

Grey River Argus, 1 June 1943, Page 2

AFRICAN CAMPAIGN

A REVIEW. GENERAL EISENHOWER’S BROADCAST. RUGBY, May 29. General Eisenhower, broadcasting to Europe from North Africa, said: “We have jolted the enemy’s morale, for in this theatre one of the best and proudest of his armies has been utterly destroyed. The British Ist. Army and the American 2nd Corps have been tempered in the heat of battle and have become formidable fighting machines and through them other Allied units which are going into the fight for the first time will be better prepared and more ready to absorb the first shocks of conflict.” The British Sth Army—which the enemy had reluctantly admitted to be the finest organisation of its strength in the world—had been confronted by strange battle conditions in Tunisia and had made advances in technique and professional ability. Beyond these benefits accruing from' the North African campaign, one of the greatest gains was in Allied team play. That had reached a high' degree of proficiency. The same spirit, inspired also the French troops fighting alongside them. “This demonstration of unity on the battlefield and unity in adversity as in victory, is sorely puzzling the Axis.” said General Eisenhower: “Our solidarity terrifies them because they complacently counted on the divided counsels and inter-family quarrels that have been characteristic of Allied campaigns in former wars. In this team, which is bound together by indestructible devotion to a common cause, are Admiral Cunningham, Air Chief Marshal Tedder, General Alexander, Major-General Spaatz, General Montgomery, Lieu-tenant-General Anderson, Lieuten-ant-General Patton, Vice-Admiral Hewitt, Major-General Willis, Majorgeneral Bradley, Lieutenant-General Clark, Air Marshal Coningham and Major-General Doolittle. At our sides stand General Giraud, General Juin, General le Clerc and General Koeltz. We are ready to undertake any further tasks our countries may choose to assign to us. We stand as a single body, determined that there will be no cessation of effort until, working in concert with all the other forces of the United Nations, we shall have brought the last army of Germany, Italy and Japan to its inevitable' Tunisia.”

Destroyers of the British Mediterranean Fleet upset any plans the enemy might have conceived for a “Dunkirk” in Tunisia. From the monotonous duty of escorting convoy# up to the North African front line ports, these units of the “forward ferry” as they were commonly called, suddenly switched over to a striking force, a role they now maintain. In the last few days of the Tunisian battle, a number of destroyers patrolled day and night close in to the beaches of Tunis and Cape Bon. Their task was full of incident. One interrupted the work of picking up Germans from rowing boats and sent a motor-boat over choppy seas to the Italian hospital ship Virigillio. The boarding party, which included a doctor, made sure that the wounded and all else were genuine, heard the Italian commander complain about the lack of beauty among his 20 nurses and then returned to patrol the area to pick up 29 more Germans from their cockleshell craft. The destroyers did their share in bombarding ' the enemy along the beaches. Many Germans, picked up from small craft, did not know the route by which they arrived at the coast — they hadn’t stayed long enough in each place to learn its name.

TANGIERS ARRESTS BY SPANISH POLICE. LONDON, May 30. “The Times” Tangier’s correspondent staled: Spanish police arrested about 300 Jewish and Arab youths, most of whom have been deported to Spanish Morocco. It is reported that the French Consul-General supplied a full list of volunteers for work in Allied-controlled French Morocco, thus helping the police to make arrests. . It is clear the Spanish authorities intentionally initiated the movement as an anti-Allied demonstration. German influence throughout Spanish Morocco is stronger than ever. Terror reigns in the Jewish

colony. Jewish employees of British firms constantly fear arrest for serving British interests. The police picketed the printing office of a local newspaper “Tangier Gazette.” to prevent publication. Employees, to avoid arrest, and deportation, remained on the premises, where they were fed.