STAND AT SFAX

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 April 1943, Page 3

STAND AT SFAX

NOW THOUGHT UNLIKELY REPORTED DEMOLITIONS. ROMMEL SAID TO BE SHORT OF TRANSPORT. LONDON, April 1. The Associated Press correspondent with the Fifth Army says that the Axis, in an effort to stave off the eclipse, is bringing fresh troops by air to Tunisia. This was disclosed after the capture of several hundred Italians by the American push along the Gabes road from El Guetar. Some of the prisoners had been in Tunisia for only 10 days. 1 _ The latest news suggests that Rommel has given up the idea of making a big stand at Sfax. Algiers radio says the Germans had not time to blow up their dumps and installations at Gabes but that they have already begun to destroy those at Sfax. _ Morocco radio says the Axis has set fire to a number of ships in Sfax har bour, and that Rommel has also ordered the destruction of military buildings. The radio adds: “It is considered that the Afrika Korps has only enough vehicles to transport 40,000 men, while it is known that Rommel concentrated 80.000 men in the Mareth positions and 50,000 to guard the flank.” The Paris radio said the possibility of an Allied landing at Sfax in the near future cannot be ruled out, but that the Axis General Staff had foreseen it for some time and taken the necessary measures. At his Press conference in Washington the United States Secretary of War Mr. Stimson, said that Rommel apparently retained the bulk of his forces intact, and there was a strong chance that he would effect a union with von Arnim. This would give the Axis a strong army in good defensive positions. Probably there would be a great deal of heavy fighting before the final phase. The Berlin radio mentions the appearance of Canadians in the fighting in North Africa, declaring that a fresh Canadian mountain battalion was “un able to improve the situation.”