AXIS RETREAT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 February 1943, Page 3

AXIS RETREAT

REPORTED EVACUATION OF KASSERINE PASS IN CENTRAL TUNISIA Berlin Admits German and Italian Withdrawal ENEMY ATTACKS IN THE NORTH REPULSED Al .1.1F.D AIRCRAFT STILL PLAYING BIG PART LONDON, February 25. The Algiers radio tonight says Axis forces are evacuating the Kasserine Pass in Central Tunisia. Berlin today admitted a German and Italian withdrawal in Tunisia to positions, which, as they put it, control the Allied deployment area. The Kasserine Pass is not mentioned. Allied land and air forces are clearing all Rommel’s forces from the area west of the pass. Forward patrols are in contact with the enemy rearguard. Many of these rearguard troops, mostly Italians, have been captured and the others have not been putting up a great deal of resistance; in fact, there has not been much la'nd fighting in the last stages of the Axis withdrawal. A correspondent sums up the fierce battle of the last few days by stating that the Germans planned a break through. The Allies gave them a plastering the day before yesterday and now the enemy has had to give up this particular plan. Of course, the Germans may have another plan up their sleeve. The positions they still hold are valuable and the enemy has every reason to be aggressive. This is one good reason why there has been no let-up in the air blitz, which has played so big a part in Rommel’s retreat. Any regrouping the Germans may be trying to do is being harassed by swarms of aircraft, operating all over the roads just behind the battle area. Attacks have been made on Sbeitla, now a vital communication centre for the Axis and on a big airfield to the north, near , Tunis, which the Germans have been using in ferrying men and equipment from Sicily. Many Axis transport planes and fighters were destroyed during this raid. Today’s reports of the land fighting in the northern area state that new German attacks against the French positions there have been thrown back. More enemy prisoners have been taken in this sector. A message from Malta says torpedo bombers based on the island attacked an Axis convoy west of Sicily on Wednesday night. A large supply ship was sunk and another torpedoed. An Axis destroyer also got a torpedo hit. For the first time General Eisenhower today included the . activities of the British Eighth Army in his communique, which imported active patrolling by armoured units east of the Mareth Line. Things seem to be warming up in the Mareth area. British aircraft have begun to pound not only the fortifications themselves but enemy airfields in the rear. This sign of activity in the past has always heralded a new drive by the Eighth Army.

AIR BLITZ

HEAVIEST ATTACK OF WAR AGAINST RETREATING ENEMY COLUMNS. 2000 ITALIANS ENCIRCLED. (Bv Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright) LONDON, February 24. The correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain at field head- " quarters in North Africa says that the Allied air forces carried out the heaviest attacks of the war against the retreating columns. The Allied planes attacked with concentrated fury of cannon fire and machinegun fire and also with bombs, which shook the whole of the enemy forces. Even Flying Fortresses were called in to help deliver an air attack the like of which the Germans scarcely dreamed could be mounted. “Intense artillery fire and bombing have forced the Axis forces to leave the vast and mountainous amphitheatre on the Allied side of the pass to the British and Americans,” the correspondent states. “Our most advanced observation post radioed this evening that no enemy forces remained on the plain. Americans attacking from Tebessa captured over 300 Italians and Germans, with enough' small arms to equip an entire battalion.” Reuter’s says that during the withdrawal from near Thala the Germans threw in Italians to support their holding tactics. The Allies trapped an Italian battalion of about 2000 in a pass leading to Siliana. French troops covering the entrance allowed the Italians to get well into the pass before closing in behind them. The Italians sought shelter in a wadi, but Scottish troops blocked the exit, and the Allies now completely encircle the Italians. Twenty-three German tanks are believed to have been destroyed yesterday, when Allied planes battered retreating armoured units unceasingly. The British United Press says that the Axis forces have now been pushed back into a small stretch of territory which extends only three miles beyond the Kasserine gap. The correspondent adds that a large number of the prisoners were German rearguards who remained behind to cover the withdrawal. “The Times” correspondent in Algiers says that the attacking Axis forces in central Tunisia consisted of an unexpectedly strong force of tanks and infantry drawn from von Arnim’s and Rommel’s armies. Its spearhead was the remains of Rommel’s 21st Panzer Division, which he evidenaly sent ahead of the rest of his army. The assembling of such a force without knowledge of it getting abroad was a considerable military feat. The German news agency claims that 4500 British and American troops and 3000 French were killed in the fighting in central Tunisia, and that the total Allied losses, including prisoners, were at least 20,000. A report received in Stockholm from Berlin admits that the British reinforcements effectively intervened in the central Tunisian battle and stopped the Axis offensive. Axis forces vigorously resisted strong British counterattacks, it is said. The Eighth Army is now well beyond Madenine and is probing the Mareth defences, says Reuter’s Cairo correspondent. The German news agency states: “The Eighth Army concentrated part of its stronger forces against our southern flank. Its reconnaissance units pushed into an area south-east of Shott el Jerid.” (ibis would indicate that units have by-passed the western end of the Mareth Line.) The news agency added: “It therefore seems that the British are intending an encircling action despite the conditions of the south Tunisian desert, which make operations of large forces very difficult.”

ALLIED ONRUSH

SUCCESSFUL ATTACKS CRUCIAL DAYS AHEAD. AMERICAN TROOPS LEARN FAST. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, February 25. Forcing the enemy to abandon their battle positions well beyond the pass, the Allied counter-attacks had yesterday advanced to within one mile of the western mouth of the gap. The Axis forces were yesterday believed to be regrouping behind the gap. Reuter's correspondent in North Africa s.ud that the Germans retreated a total of 15 miles from the point of their farthest advance. They were now making a desperate stand to check the Allied onrush and enable men and equipment to retire safely. The British United Press correspondent said that the Americans who held up the second German thrust on the Kasserine-Tebessa road via Jebel Hamra were also pushing the Germans back to Kasserine. However, the situation remained fluid, affording no basis for excessive optimism. “The results in the next two or three days may be regarded as critical in assessing the chances of winding up the Tunisian campaign this spring,” says Reuter’s special Tunisian correspondent. “If the Germans are pushed back through the Kasserine gap and the Allied forces are able to block a possible passage through the opening behind Sbeiba, the Germans will eventually face the Eighth Army coming up from the south while the limited area round the Tunis and Bizerta boundaries is held by the First Army. “But if the Germans succeed in breaking through and continuing their advance they will offer a serious threat to the rear of the First Army. This appears to be one of the chief aims of the German strategy. Rommel, by the threat against the Allied rear, may believe he can force the First Army westward along the coast, leaving two and possibly three of the coastal ridges in German hands. For example, if the Allied armies were forced back beyond the second ridge, the Allied line in the north would be put back to the vicinity of Tabarka, which would give the Germans an additional 35 miles of territory in which to operate defensively. “The difficulty after that of forcing them from Tunisia would prolong the campaign throughout the summer, which would possibly seriously interfere with the plans for a prompt invasion of the Continent. Hence the importance of Allied successes in central Tunisia.”

The- “New York Times” correspondent in North Africa, Drew Middleton, says: “The decisive Allied victory at Thala ends the immediate threat of a German drive to the north, cutting off the British First Army from the American forces. The courage of the American troops and their willingness to learn under fire, plus the timely arrival of veteran British tank reinforcements, enabled Major-General Fredendall to deliver a master counter-stroke. “But the Allies are still fighting defensively, and. it will be some time before they are able to launch an attack as large as Rommel’s. Moreover, one victory does not make a campaign. It would be folly to believe that Rommel will not again attack if he thinks the gain is worth the risk. The events in the last two days have proven: “First, that the American troops learn fast and have become within 10 days equal to the best European soldiers.

“Secondly, the American tank commanders and crews still have much to

learn. When it is learned, they will sweep Africa. “Thirdly, the Allied air power in this theatre is so great that when it is exerted over a single battlefield it is almost a decisive factor.” There will be many claims on who won this battle, the correspondent says, and he believes that history will assign that role to the American guns and gunners and the British tanks and crews, who sustained the shock of the heaviest German advance to Thala and then counter-attacked. POCKETS CLEARED MANY ITALLIANS CAPTURED. HEAVY ALLIED AIR ATTACKS. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day 9.30 a.m.) RUGBY, February 25. A North African communique states: “The enemy continued his withdrawal from the pass north-west of Kasserine, where our forward elements are in contact with the enemy. Our patrols are already at Sbiba and are engaged by the enemy. French troops cleared several pockets of resistance which remained from recent attacks. A number of Italians acting as rearguards to the Germans were captured. Our fighters and light bombers following the enemy withdrawal into Central Tunisia made repeated heavy attacks on motor transport and road and rail installations. Vehicles were destroyed in these attacks. Enemy aircraft dropped bombs behind our lines and one was destroyed. On Tuesday night roads and other targets behind the enemy lines were bombed. Yesterday, our bombers attacked airfields at Tunis. Many hits were seen among grounded aircraft and several enemy fighters were shot down, as well as enemy transport planes. Six of our aircraft are missing. One previously reported missing is safe. In the Eighth Army area our armoured cars carried out active patrolling east of the Mareth Line.”

HOT ON HEELS

ALLIES CHASING ENEMY FORCES TERRIFIC POUNDING FROM AIR. FRENCH BOMBERS OPERATING. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.10 a.m.) RUGBY, February 25. Allied troops are keeping up pressure on the enemy, who is retreating in the Kasserine-Thala area. A correspondent with the North African Army states that Allied troops have penetrated the Kasserine Gap and are hot on the heels of the Germans and Italians. Reports from the area indicate that advance patrols are in contact with the enemy just inside the pass. Allied forces to the north-east, in the Sbiba area, where the enemy made two tank attacks during the weekend have also pushed forward. Although the weather is not particularly good for flying, bombers and fighters kept up pounding the enemy at Kasserine. Martin Marauders made a raid on the Al Aouina aerodrome, Tunis, the terminus of the enemy’s transport plane service. Bursts were seen among planes parked on the airfield. Many were destroyed and a large fire was started. Tiie Marauders were attacked by twenty-five to thirty enemy fighters, six of which were shot down, five by bombers and one by escorting fighters. Boston bombers attacked the railway yard at Sbeitla. Another formation of bombers, escorted by Spitfires, bombed and strafed an enemy column. Airacobras attacked enemy vehicles south of Kasserine, while French bombers went into action for the first time in this campaign, when they attacked an enemy concentration at Nefta, west of the Salt Flats in the south. R.A.F. fighters were actice in forward areas, strafing roads, and Bisley bombers attacked supply roads in the Kasserine, Feriana, and Gasfa area.