ROMMEL’S RETREATING ARMY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 December 1942, Page 3

ROMMEL’S RETREATING ARMY

Brilliant Advance by British Column THROUGH ROUGH AND UNCHARTED DESERT SUBSTANTIAL ENEMY FORCES CUT OFF 60 MILES WEST OF EL AGHEILA LONDON, December 17. British forces in- Libya, by cutting through rough, uncharted country,, have split Rommel’s retreating army into two. This is as a rem'arkable feat of desert warfare and endurance. This British force outflanked Rommel’s defences west of El Agheila and this is why Rommel hurriedly ordered a retreat from his strong positions. BRITISH FORCES, COMING UP INTO THE COASTAL AREA 50 MILES WEST OF EL AGHEILA, HAVE CUT THE RETREATING AXIS COLUMNS INTO TWO. THE ENEMY HAS SUFFERED HEAVY CASUALTIES ALREADY AND WILL SUFFER STILL MORE AS HIS TROOPS TRY TO BREAK THROUGH. British and American aircraft are keeping up everywhere their attacks on the enemy and fighting continues. It is known that the strength of the enemy forces cut off is''‘considerable and that they include tanks and some of Rommel’s best troops. Taught by their earlier experience in the El Alamein battle, the Italians, in this instance, got away first. A German communique refers to an enemy attempt to break through and interfere with their movement and states that Axis forces have disengaged themselves westward, according to plan. In London the British movement is regarded as a remarkable feat of endurance and also as a brilliant piece of strategy. It shows that what the British forces do not know about transport maintenance and desert movement is not worth knowing. For days past, the column which has now split Rommel’s army had been on the move round the enemy flank, while reports of the operations in Libya referred glibly to the slowness of the advance, to our being held up by enemy minefields and booby traps and to difficult problems of supply. The R.A.F. co-operated vigorously and kept enemy reconnaissance planes out of the sky. In Tunisia the fighting is still mainly in the air. Tunis is becoming a more and more vital spot to the enemy, as the Eighth Army drives nearer to Tripoli. Tunis has been heavily raided for eight hours by Allied planes and a lot of damage has been done. In all operations in Tunisia and Libya not a single Allied plane has been lost.