AXIS COLLAPSE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 May 1943, Page 3

AXIS COLLAPSE

IN THE FINAL PHASE ! IN TUNISIA GIGANTIC MUDDLE — ? PRECIPITATED BY SWIFT BRITISH ONSET. THING THAT CAN HAPPEN ELSEWHERE. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, May 16. “The truth about the Axis collapse in Tunisia is out. at. last,” says a “Daily Mail” correspondent in Tunis. It was one gigantic muddle. What precipitated the muddle was the unbelievable bursts of speed by the British down the Medjerda Valley to Tunis and also through Hamman Lif to the Cape Bon peninsula, when the Axis forces were split in twain. “One captured general paid a tribute to the British armoured forces when he said, ‘I did not conceive that an armoured division could move so fast after the Hamman Lif break-through.’ “The whole of the Axis position automatically collapsed. Most of the Axis troops on the Cape Bon peninsula were not fighting troops. The entire Axis system of communications broke down, and it was not a -coherent army any more. It simply, fell apart. The only forces which got away in an organised manner were the Luftwaffe personnel. “It all adds up to a muddle on a gigantic scale; and if it can happen in Tunisia it can happen elsewhere.” The remarkable advance by the Sixth Armoured Division and the Fourth Infantry Division which culminated in the complete occupation of the Cape Bon peninsula has now been described by a North African war correspondent. There was only one way into the peninsula, and that was along the coast road, which was heavily fortified by {he enemy at its narrowest point. The enemy had a large number of 88millimetre guns in the hills overlooking Hamman Lif and also a large number in the town covering all the roads. Motorised infantry and artillery attacked the enemy in the hills on May 8, and fierce fighting went on throughout the day. The infantry “rubbed out” enemy nest after nest and by evening held all the hills. Early on May 9 Sherman tanks went into action against the town, being met by heavy fire from anti-tank guns and also antiaircraft batteries. Artillery put down a heavy barrage on the town and the tanks went in again with infantry riding on top of them. They fought their way into the town, often knocking out 88s from point-blank range, while the infantry leapt from the tanks to rush houses from which the enemy was firing from upstair windows. The enemy was forced to withdraw so hurriedly that he left many undamaged guns behind, including 12 88s, and also two Tiger tanks. Next day the armoured division moved into the peninsula, captured Soliman in spite of strong resistance, then took Grombalia, and by travelling through the night was able to reach and take Hammamet early next morning. Here the division split, one group heading northward while the other went south and joined the Eighth Army on May 15. The Fourth Infantry Division went up the western road of the peninsula and performed the remarkable feat of covering 41 miles in 18 hours. They met heavy resistance at some points,. and there were cases of infantry leaping from the tanks directly into enemy positions with fixed bayonets. When the force signalled that they had reached the tip of the peninsula it was ' thought that they had made a mistake, but the enemy was under no illusion on the subject. EXPENSIVE PRISONER VON ARNIM TO BE PAID £2094 A YEAR. UNDER GENEVA CONVENTION. LONDON, May 16. While General von Arnim is a prisoner Britain, under the Geneva Convention, must pay him £2094 a year, which he received as commander-in-chief in Tunisia. A 'British general who is commander-in-chief receives £3300 a year. Upon von Arnim’s arrival today at an airport in the south of England, the Royal Air Force handed him over to the War Office, after which he was conveyed secretly to London.