EIGHTH ARMY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 January 1943, Page 4

EIGHTH ARMY

NOW ONLY THIRTY MILES FROM TRIPOLI ANNOUNCEMENT BY CAIRO RADIO. BRITISH ARMOURED COLUMNS CLOSING IN. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright’ (Received This Day, 1.5 a.m.) LONDON, January 19. THE CAIRO RADIO ANNOUNCED THAT THE EIGHTH ARMY WAS THIRTY MILES FROM TRIPOLI. EARLIER NEWS FIFTY-MILE BOUND. - FOLLOWED UP QUICKLY. (Received This Day, 11.50 a.m.) . LONDON, January 19. After a fifty-mile bound in 24 hours, the. fast armoured columns of the Eighth Army are tonight closing in on Tripoli, says Reuters Cairo correspondent. The gravest threat against the last city of Mussclini’s African Empire is the British thrust across the Hinterland, which is now nearing Tarhuna, about forty miles from Tripoli. A British United Press correspondent reports that the Axis offered some resistance at Beni Ulid, but were pushed back to Tarhuna, after losing some tanks. Another column, moving along the coast, reached the vicinity of Zliten tonight, having passed through Misurata and Garibaldi without opposition. Our air superiority forced the Axis air forces on the defensive. “The Times’ Cairo correspondent says that there is a feeling in some quarters that the Eighth Army’s progress is too cautious, and that a forward cr encircling movement might finish off the remains of the Afrika Korps, thus achieving a striking and sensational victory, but General Montgomery is not cut for sensationalism. He knows that eventual victory is certain, and ai.ms to keep his forces intact.

AXIS EFFORT IN SOUTHERN TUNISIA. ATTEMPT TO BLOCK ALLIED JUNCTION. (Received This Day, 12.15 p.m.) LONDON, January 19. Axis activity in the Bouarada-Gou-bellat area in Tunisia is associated here with Rommel’s retreat, and is thought to be designed to hinder co-operation between the First and Eighth Armies.