COMPARATIVE LULL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 March 1943, Page 3

COMPARATIVE LULL

AT MOMENT IN TUNISIA TWO MORE AXIS TANKS KNOCKED OUT. SIGNS OF PREPARATION FOR BIG AIR BATTLE. LONDON, March 10. The Axis forces in Tunisia have shown little fight anywhere in the last 24 hours, but Allied patrols have been very active in spite of the' bad weather. In the Mareth area, the British Eighth Army knocked out two more of Rommel’s tanks, making a total of 52 destroyed since the Axis commander launched/ his disastrous offensive on Saturday morning. Over 100 miles to the rear of the Mareth defences French patrols, striking north-eastward, have a place named Metlaoui, about 25 miles west of the Axis-occupied Gafsa. In Northern Tunisia the British First Army has been doing a great deal of patrolling, especially round the Axisoccupied village of Sed Jenane. There is not much air activity at the moment, though a very strong force of Allied medium bombers from Middle East bases raided the enemy base at Palermo on Monday night. A Cairo correspondent points out that there are still large and extremely powerful Allied forces in various places at the eastern end of the Mediterranean. The enemy knows this very well and some of his recent broadcasts show that he is getting nervy about it. Informed quarters in Cairo are of the opinion that a big Allied air offensive over Tunisia, eventually swelling into what may be the last great battle on the African continent, cannot be far off, says Reuter’s Cairo correspondent. The air activity over the Mareth Line has certainly been greatly stepped up in the past two days, but it is impossible at the moment to say whether this is the beginning of a sustained air effort. Rommel is husbanding his air force, but it would be a mistake to underestimate the strength of the Luftwaffe or to imagine that the final air battle will be anything but grim and strenuous.