ROMMEL’S RETREAT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 31 March 1943, Page 3

ROMMEL’S RETREAT

THROUGH LONG & NARROW , CORRIDOR THREAT TO INLAND FLANK. GENERAL GIRAUD’S CONFIDENCE. (By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright) LONDON, March 30. Rommel, it is pointed out in London, is heading northward along a corridor which is 200 miles long and at many places is now no more than 50 miles wide, with British and American forces threatening his inland flank at many points along the way. Evidence that the enemy’s other flank—the sea—cannot be regarded as neutral comes in a report from Algiers that the Navy yesterday was heavily bombarding the Gabes area. United States forces have been pushing farther east in central Tunisia, and British and French troops have advanced in the northern sector. “I am confident that we can now very quickly clear all of central Tunisia, and thereafter swiftly reduce the

Axis bridgehead of Tunis and Bizerta,” General Giraud told a special correspondent of the “Daily Mail,” at Allied headquarters. He added 'that the Allied fleets and air forces would prevent any Axis attempt to get away by sea. “The smashing of the formidable southern Tunisian fortifications is un'doubtedly one of the most sensational feats of this war," says the “Christian Science Monitor,” which points out that General Montgomery thereby may have advanced the invasion of Europe by months. GREAT POSSIBILITIES. The “New York Times” observes that the British cracked the Mareth Line by an outflanking manoeuvre in the same way as the Germans cracked the Maginot Line, which is another lesson to the world not to put trust in fortifications. “The victory is great, but the immediate possibilities are even greater,” it says. “The exploitation of these now largely depends on the Americans, for Rommel is retreating into ; a bag whose strings are in the hands of the American forces in central Tunisia. “The trap for Rommel is now set. It ■ remains to be seen whether the desert 1 fox can escape again to fight another ' day ” V. ! The Eighth Army’s successes have I greatly heartened the British public, i who had been not unnaturally anxious ■ in view of the meagre news after the • Wadi Zigzau check. ' The Columbia Broadcasting System’s I correspondent at Algiers declares that • the Eighth Army men who pushed the ■ Germans from Mareth are those who swept round Mareth and penetrated • behind the German lines. According • to Axis reports, one New Zealand and I one Indian division constitute the main ■ part of this force. • 1 A “Daily Express” correspondent I with the Fifth Army on the Gabes road ’ says that the greatest Anglo-American