OF GOOD PROMISE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 April 1943, Page 3

OF GOOD PROMISE

RECENT GAINS BY FIRST ARMY FOOD SHORT IN TUNIS & BIZERTA. SPECULATION AS TO LENGTH OF CAMPAIGN. ißy Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, April 5. The First Army’s recent advances in the mountainous north of Tunisia, with mist and rain hampering the use of heavy armour, promise well for the future, says the “Daily Telegraph’s” correspondent with the Allied headquarters. Lieutenant-General Anderson. has held the north Tunisian front for nearly three months with a sketchy force of men and material and under the roughest conditions, with the mer daily bailing out their dugouts and

emplaceihents. Today the position is ■ altered. The heavy rain has ceased, | ■ and Anderson has been strongly rein- < forced by troops and tanks and has also received the French 19th Corps, ■ which British technicians in the last • two months have been instructing in : the use of the armour, equipment and weapons supplied from the Allied pool. Near-famine exists in the city of Tunis, and the civilian population of Bizerta has been evacuated to suburban and restart districts, according to an eyewitness who has arrived at the North Africa headquarters, says another “New York Times” correspondent. No meat has been available in Tunis since January, and bread is rationed to 180 grams a day. Long queues are constantly at the food shops. The Germans have taken over the big hotels and other establishments, and strict guards prevent anyone from approaching them. ITALIANS DEPRESSED. After a brief moment of triumph when the Axis troops arrived the enthusiasm of the Italian population has vastly diminished and is now replaced by the long faces of pessimism. The Axis wounded are so numerous that civilian hospitals are handling the overflow. Informed American military circles are inclined to believe that the Tunisian campaign will last anywhere from six weeks to four months or longer, depending on the Axis strategy, says the “New York Times” correspondent in Washington. If Rommel decides to attempt to evacuate his troops to Sicily and the Allied campaign goes well the war in North Africa will conceivably end in six or eight weeks. On the other hand if the Allies get all the bad breaks, and Rommel makes a last-ditch stand, the campaign might draw out to August. Observers are expecting a hard fight, but there are no signs of undue pessimism.” “It is idle wishfulness to suggest that Rommel will attempt a Dunkirk

from Tunisia,” says Mr J. L. Garvin, writing in the “Sunday Express.” “The Axis intends to put up the longest and bitterest fight possible.” It is thought in London, says the “Sunday Express’s” diplomatic correspondent that Hitler might try to rescue the highly-trained Afrika Korps from Tunisia, but will probably leave the Italians. “It is only a matter of time before we control all Tunisia, though sporadic fighting may go on for months after this is achieved,” the writer says.