Wairarapa Times-Age MONDAY, MAY 10, 1943. VICTORY IN AFRICA.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 May 1943, Page 2

Wairarapa Times-Age MONDAY, MAY 10, 1943. VICTORY IN AFRICA.

JF the swift and decisive victory won in Tunisia was anticipated by the Allied commanders in North Africa, they were remarkably successful, and of course showed sound common sense, in maintaining secrecy on the subject. On the eve of the victorious thrusts in which the Allies captured Tunis and Bizerta, the world was still being told of immensely strong mountain positions held by the enemy—positions which must be wrested from him one by one. Many recent reports from the. battlefronts have definitely discouraged the idea that sudden and complete victory was possible.

This may have helped to impart an element of surprise to the final Allied onslaught. It is clear in any case that, in spite of all that had previously happened, this onslaught fell upon the enemy with shattering and overwhelming effect and that the result is a great and brilliant achievement which will live in the history of war. It was an achievement in which all sections of the Allied forces, operating on land, in the air and at sea, had their full part. It lias its bearing on the future, as well as on the conquest of Tunisia, that the Axis forces were subjected to an altogether unprecedented ordeal of attack by

Not the least interesting detail in the story of the final Tunisian battle, as it has thus far been told, is the swift movement of some of the famous units of the Eighth Army to the central front, where they added their weight to that of the First Army and other Allied formations, in the drive on Tunis.

Although German propagandists are already asserting that the Tunisian campaign has served its purpose in delaying Allied action against Continental Europe, it is not in doubt that the enemy had hoped to hold the North African bridgehead for a, considerably longer period. In completing their conquest of North Africa, the Allies have gained command of the Sicilian Straits and an effective control over the Mediterranean. Italy and much more than Italy, is now laid open to Allied attack.

Of the campaign as a whole it is to be said that it was brilliantly conceived and has been carried as brilliantly to its appointed conclusion. It appears to have been marked, too, by admirable co-operation between the several nationalities represented in the Allied armies, and it certainly has afforded proof that the Allies are much more than equal to their enemy, not only in fighting power, but in generalship.

Possibilities of surprise blows at any one or more of a number of points around the long European coastlines now assume an aspect that is, from the Axis standpoint, more than ever menacing. It is not impossible that attacks may be directed to countering directly the use by the enemy of his most formidable remaining weapon—the U-boat. In the supremely important factor of air power, the inferiority of the enemy has been demonstrated perhaps more completely in Tunisia than ever before.

At the heavy price in valiant lives which has to be paid at every stage of the advance towards ultimate victory, the conquest of Tunisia gives a new and commanding demonstration that the war has much more than begun to swing in favour of the United Nations. On account of that price and because of the effort and sacrifice that will yet be demanded, there will be no light-hearted rejoicing over this great military achievement, but it stands out as in itself an admirably effective use ol‘ fighting power and one that visibly opens the way to greater things. It will do much, it may be hoped, to quicken and strengthen the determination of the United Nations not only to press on to final victory, but to establish a peace worthy of all the heroic efforts and sacrifices by which it is being made possible. The smashing of Axis resistance in North Africa may be expected to have far-reaching results also in weakening and undermining the spirit and organisation of the gangsterdominated nations which set out to enslave and despoil their fellow men.