AXIS REMNANTS IST SURRENDER OR DIE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 108, 8 May 1943, Page 5

AXIS REMNANTS IST SURRENDER OR DIE

HIGH OFFICERS FLEE Greatest Allied Blitz Of The War N.Z. Press Association. —Copyright Rec. 2 p.m. / LONDON, May 7. Allied Headquarters announce that the occupation of Tunis and Bizerta was completed late on Friday. The First Army entered Tunis after a pitched street battle at Lebardo. Reuters correspondent at Allied headquarters say me Axis has one slender hope — they may have managed to get some forces to Cap Bon Peninsula, but. tne remnants of the army, which has been cut to shreds in the past 36 hours, is not likely to be of much consequence. Algiers radio states the greater part of the Axis high officers left Tunisia by air. The radio said Allied troops penetrated the interior of Tunis and Bizerta and captured many strong points after hard fighting, the vigorous offensive robbing the enemy of the possibility of organising a new line of resistance. Much booty was taken.

Sea Escape Hazardous The Axis forces have been pushed back to the sea and have no choice but to surrender or await destruction. An attempt at embarkation would be catastrophic, with Allied planes and warships barring the way. The First Army entered Tunis through the Le Bardo area, which is two miles due west of the town. One hour after the First Army began its offensive, the Americans farther north struck south-east towards Teburba. Crack German troops, including the Berenthin Division and Luftwaffe members fighting as infantry, stubbornly defended Chougi Pass, four miles north-west of Teburba. The Germans fought back with devilish ferocity, but the Americans, by 10 a.m. held the pass and further slopes.

General le Clerc's Fighting French, who have been atmost continually in action since their desert trek from Equatorial Africa, were in the Eighth Army's van in the Enfidaville sector. General de Larminat's Fighting French, on the other wing of the Eighth Army, threatened the railway from Pont Du Fahs to Tunis, and made a bold attempt to outflank Pont Du Fahs from the north-west. The Axis troops bitterly defended Pont Du Fahs against General Giraud's French and Americans pressing from the south and west. Huns Admit Inferiority Reuters Algiers correspondent says four planes per minute oombed and strafed the enemy positions in Tunisia for nine hours. The sorties were the largest number flown in a single day—2soo from dusk on Wednesday to dusk on Thursday. We still had planes to spare. The Associated Press says this thunderous air blow co-ordinated with the largest infantry and tank attack the Allies have launched during the war, even exceeding that at El Alamein. Captain Sertorius, the Berlin military spokesman, ascribed the Axis failure in the last phase of Tunisia to "the gross discrepancy in the disposition of the forces of both sides, which of necessity determined the course of the fighting." He added the Allies were able to employ overwhelming superiority in jnen and material, to which was added massed R.A.F. activity on a scale hitherto unknown. Captain Sertorius said in the attack south of the Medjerda River General Anderson employed over 400 tanks and over 2000 planes.

The capture of Tunis and Bizerta comes six months to a day since the Allied landings in North Africa. The control of Bizerta, which, next to Toulon, is the greatest naval base on the Mediterranean, gives the Allies control of the Sicilian Straits and virtual control of the Mediterranean.