Tripoli Falls To Eighth Army Timetable

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 13055, 25 January 1943, Page 3

Tripoli Falls To Eighth Army Timetable

I tHREE months and a day from I THRt el alamein 00 OF MORE THAN THOUSAND MILES I koMMB L HARRIED INTO TUNISIA London, Jan. 24. • +i main Italian base in North Africa, and the jewel of I TriP oll >* lie ‘ « mD i re fell to General Montgomery’s victorious M ni ’ sß Ca r day morning. It will be recalled that Mr WinI Army on. o the Roman dictator, when Italy entered the Jn Church] 11 ' would befall the Italian empire. The Prime jjr, of st that it wou ld be torn* to shreds and tatters and (is has now coroe day, since the battle of El Alamein, have Three mon gth Army to drive right across to Tripoli, a ufnced for 10 00 miles as the bomber flies. The magnitude flleWqw wliich was dealt to the Axis armies in Egypt can now | gaugcch schedule a n the way, the Bth Army took Tripoli on Kecpuio hours 0 f its time-table and is already slashing ft! remnants of the Afrika Korps west of the city. of the triumphs to be won by his 8,000,000 r° If las been finally shattered. f. vo^ 1 d west of Tripoli is described by correspondents as i Vs of hell.” Seventy miles west of the city at Zuara the f looml< L rl Italians are making desperate efforts to escape by sea. LRoval Navy is however waiting for them and also the K.A.F. i nre are fleeing into Tunisia. MVTames Grigg, British Secretary of State for War, has spoken 1 imviiw terms of the work of the Bth Army under the magnificent Csjiip%f General Montgomery. He referred especially to the t tint the Bth Army had kept to schedule along the whole of the £ice across North Africa. So rapid has been the British adA west of Tripoli that our troops were attacking the Axis forces t Zuara 70 miles west of the city, almost before the sound of the plosions of Axis demolition charges had died away in Tripoli. Our fkliter bombers are concentrating the full weight of their ! wer a o-ahist the retreating enemy columns. Pew enemy aircraft re to be seen and our planes are spreading havoc over a wide area. One pilot described how he smashed tip a column of 20 enemy -neks led by a petrol waggon. He said that he hit the waggon ; tt i n( r it on fire. The flaming petrol then spread and set fire to all j e trucks in the rear and the whole column was destroyed. British light naval forces have bombarded Zuara causing large res and explosions. Our ships sustained neither casualties or

lamage. i)iir advance towards and west|rd from Tripoli was even quicker lln that made at El -Alamein and 3 described as one of the swiftest i |er made. One correspondent lened it.to a great, gold rush. He sail our forces overran the -Axis piiious one after another. , |As the Stir Army moved forward Bieral Montgomery was there all |e time and was in excellent spirits lad very confident. iSinoe our advance began 507 Axis Ipiait have been destroyed. Our pes are 335 planes, pr Chief Marshal Sir Sholto iuslas, who is now in command of |tR.A.F, in the Middle East, gives ||dal praise to the work of the RAF. Cheers In Malta was one of the first places to | eive the news of the fall of Tripoli IJtich was greeted by the cheering |Pulace with displays of flags on Sr 1 ’ battered buildings.

out that they have gained a success by the evacuation of the city. They say it had been decided on for a long time but was kept a great sucret to baffle General Montgomery. This, they say, is proved by the fact that the Stht Army entered tire dry without fighting. News from Tunisia shows that things are already livening up there. Now that Tripoli has fallen Bizerta is the main Axis port of entry and it got a good hammering yesterday from U.S.. heavy bombers. They shot down 19 enemy fighters with no loss to themselves and at least one enemy ship went down. Sicily is also getting its full share of attention both day and night and is being attacked from both ends of our North African front. In the Mediterranean two more Axis ships have been sunk by our planes and many more riddled with bullets. Allied Tunisian based aircraft are already attacking Rommel’s approaching troops and many Axis lorries which survived the long pull out of Libya will not go any further. The enemy is making strenuous efforts to widen the gap between our forces and has gained a hill about 500 feet high west of Qairwan, which runs down toward Pont du Fahs. Troops of the French Camel Corps'have destroyed 17 Axis tanks in this- area. Four enemy bombers have been shot down over Tunisia and our losses are seven Tunisian aircraft and one from the Middle East.

} T ie Kew v , Its: “p 01 k Herald-Tribune fcstered Mont g°mery has hli,;,; .' He beat RomN tin, baUle and has pmp Array u -ni miles ' T be British I Tuni sia „ n ° W j6in in the fi sbt I Jj^t r ait of R 6SSage indicat es that the K. tat " 1 ’ 8 may have pia. A 6n OUr troops into Nficaut v eSPOndent says tllat p f a<;t that l lanse ’ in <Hcative of ' i nt . new battleground ; ke! > Place at . T J inisia > bas already • V o J U \ tary headquarters ? nce r °om a n S WaU ° f ihii hlch ended ° f North Africa J ! West of Tl 'iPoli has . f arp y ° Ue 'w-bich covers t ?it Up the ° f Tripoli and Anisia. Our L U Wil l Shortl ? 1,ln? Up Tri POH lal! ais are re tryin S to make