ALLIED ADVANCE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 November 1942, Page 3

ALLIED ADVANCE

TOWARDS TUNIS & BIZERTA ALONG COAST SIMULTANEOUS ACTION IN SOUTH. ANGLO-AMERICAN AIR FORCES BEING BUILT UP. LONDON, November 17. The Associated Press reports the landing of British paratroops at El Aouina military airfield, near ■ Tunis, which has been one of the chief inflowing bases for the German air-borne troops and light tanks. The Vichy news agency says that British and American forces are believed to be thrusting toward southern Tunisia while a British army is pushing on to Bizerta and Tunis along the coast. The Allies in the south are reported to be starting from Nebessa, at the end of the railway from Bona, and thrusting toward Gabes, which is about 100 miles from the Libyan border. The British United Press correspondent at the Allied headquarters says it is understood that General Anderson’s army, with United States troops, is making diversionary slicing thrusts into Tunisia in a three-pronged drive. Allied fighters, which are mostly American long-range machines but include some Spitfires, are forming protective escorts for the British paratroops. The correspondent adds that these reports are not officially confirmed at the headquarters, but it is known that the troops of Generals Anderson and Ryder are gathering momentum in the drive into Tunisia. The Royal Air Force and United States Air Force are continuously being built. up to meet the Axis air attacks effectively. The military correspondent of the London “Evening Standard” says the Allied drive on Bizerta is in many ways historic. It marks a departure from the Dieppe line of attack, which had ruled for too long. Instead of going heqdlong at Bizerta, using our naval strength, attacks are being conducted in the far less expensive and more effective Japanese manner. The Japanese took Singapore from the land side, as also the ports of Hong Kong, Rangoon and Sourabaya, and now the AJlies are using the same tactics in North Africa.