“JUST PACKED UP”

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 May 1943, Page 4

“JUST PACKED UP”

GERMANS IN TUNISIA CONTRAST WITH BRITISH RETREAT IN FRANCE. DUNKIRK VETERAN AMAZED. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.10 p.m.) LONDON. May 12. Describing the completion of the capture of the Cape Bon Peninsula, an Exchange Telegraph Agency correspondent says the advance was much speedier than could have been anticipated, especially by those who know' the nature of the hilly ground through which our armour and infantry had to pass. “It is incredible,’ said a British major, as he watched prisoners being rounded up at Cape Bon. The major, who had been through Dunkirk, continued: “They had plenty of guns, damn good positions and millions of mines. They could have put up a terrific fight, but they just packed up. Our retreat in France was nothing like this —we fought back at every yard.” A British United Press correspondent says dozens of prisoners came to him from the fields with their hands up. They surrendered to' anyone in Allied uniform. The British forces drove into the German positions regardless of any danger. Sometimes a German pocket in the hills opened up fire, but the Tommies merely went in and cleaned them up. They found the resistance half-hearted. The remnants of the Herman Goering Division at one stage unleashed a terrific barrage in the hills on the western coast of the peninsula. Then, crazy as it seems, they stopped and walked out on to the road with their hands raised. Vice-Admiral Leclerc has been appointed commander of the French naval forces in Tunisia, replacing Admiral Derrien. Vice-Admiral Leclerc is not related to General Leclerc. “BATTLE OF HONOUR” f: BOMBASTIC TALK IN ITALY. PRISONERS STREAMING IN UNGUARDED. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 1.0 p.m.) LONDON, May 12. Giving details of the rejection by General Messe of General Freyberg’s demand for surrender, the Rome radio said: “Our troops decided to oppose the enemy to the bitter end. The enemy sent an emissary asking us to surrender, but we sent him back to his own lines bearing our proud refusal. Soldiers of the First Italian Army today are fighting the final battle —a battle of honour.”

The Columbia Broadcasting system’s Algiers correspondent says a French general had the pleasure of accepting the unconditional surrender of about 10,000 Axis troops in the mountains south of Zaghouan. The troops were mostly Italians fighting under the German General Pfieffer. ’ An Associated Press correspondent at Medjez el Bab, describing the arrival of enemy prisoners, says: “Axis troops, in the darkness before dawn, drove themselves to prison camps, in a very strange procession, for 90 miles from the tip of Cape Bon to this bombscarred Hamlet. Italian and German soldiers crowded every kind of vehicle belonging to their armies, and came in file, almost bumper to bumper, through the former battleground. They drove about 50 miles between Cape Bon and Tunis without any sort of British escort. There is not a single report of any prisoner trying to escape into the countryside, though this would have been easy.”

ENEMY LOSSES IN KILLED AND WOUNDED. BEY OF TUNIS NOT A FUGITIVE. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.50 p.m.) LONDON, May 12. In addition to the 150,000 prisoners knocked into surrender- by the Allied thunderbolt offensive, the Axis also lost between 20,000 and 30,000 killed and wounded in the final phase of the campaign, says the British United Press correspondent at Allied headquarters. Late tonight the Rome radio reaffirmed that the Italian First 'Army was now holding out alone, “all other Axis units having run out of ammunition and surrendered.”

The “Daily Telegraph's” correspondent in Tunis says the Bey of Tunis did not flee. He has arrived from Hammam Lif, and has been given complete freedom. He was not noted for active opposition to the Germans, but it seems that much of his collaboration arose as a result of Admiral Esteva’s direct requests. He is being respected as nominal sovereign of Tunisia, and when he met British and American representatives expressed his high regard for the Allies. It is stated in London that although his mother is believed to be English, von Arnim disliked the British-intense-ly, and did everything possible to instil hate of the British into his troops. He commanded the 18th Panzer Division outside Moscow in 1941, and was personally responsible for the issue of an order which the Russians captured that no prisoners should be taken. TWELVE GENERALS CAPTURED BY THE ALLIES. (Received This Day, 1.20 p.m.) LONDON May 12. Besides von Arnim, eleven other German and Italian generals have been captured in Tunisia, including Major-General Count von Sponeck, commanding the 90th German Light Infantry Division, Major-General Kroich, commanding the 10th German Armoured Division and also many leading German tank, artillery and air officers. REFUGE IN HILLS SOUGHT BY SOME ENEMY GROUPS. BUT POSITION HOPELESS. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, Noon.) LONDON. May 12. Prior to the official announcement from Allied Headquarters that organised resistance had ceased in all parts of Tunisia, the Algiers radio reported that demoralised German troops were

surrendering en masse in the central sector. German generals captured now total nine. Some enemy bands still not accounted for have taken refuge in the central mountain ridges of the Cape Bon Peninsula, but their position is hopeless.