ADVANCE FROM TRIPOLI

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23858, 29 January 1943, Page 5

ADVANCE FROM TRIPOLI

Bth Army Now At Sabratha GERMAN MOVE TO MARETH LINE (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright.) (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 28. “Our forward patrols were in contact with the enemy yesterday in the' Sabratha area (40 miles west of Tripoli).” states to-day’s Cairo communique. Air attacks were on a small scale yesterday and on Tuesday night. Successful attacks were made on enemy railway concentrations in Southern Italy. One Allied aircraft is missing." The German-controlled Pans radio says the Bth Army is approaching the Mareth Line, where Marshal Rommel has massed the Afrika Korps. A battle is expected soon near Gabes, 21 miles north-west of the coastal end of the Mareth Line. The radio says Marshal Rommel’s and General von Arnim’s forces have established contact. It is believed in London that Marshal Rommel is unlikely to attempt anything more than a rearguard fight on the Mareth Line with the remnants, of his army, which now possibly totals from 40,000 to 50,000. It would not be sound from a military viewpoint for two comparatively small forces like Marshal Rommel’s and von Arnim’s to fight 200 miles apart. Undoubtedly the Axis aim is to effect a junction of the two armies. The German-controlled Paris radio said to-day: “Marshal Rommel’s advance to the Mareth line is proceeding according to plan." The Algiers correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph” states that the Germans, after five days of bitter fighting, have widened their original 33 miles’ bottleneck between Pont du Fahs and the coast line into a 45 miles’ strip. This will be the corridor through which Marshal Rommel hopes to bring his harried troops to temporary sanctuary. The night before the arrival of the Bth Army in Tripoli the Germans slaughtered in cold blood leading Jews who were packed into a ramshackle ghetto surrounded by barbed wire, on the excuse that they might be ..useful to the Allies, reports the Tripoli correspondent of the British United Press. Because of the excellent work of the Royal Engineers and pioneers at the ports, the advancing Allied forces in Tripolitania will not go short of supplies, states a Cairo correspondent. The enemy did his best to make the ports unusable. At one port sappers solved the problem by cutting through the hull of -a ship sunk near the shore and using the vessel as a loading jetty. Millions of gallons of petrol were made available to the Bth Army through this ingenious device, which is just an example of the work being done all along the coast to enable supplies, particularly water and petrol, to be supplied to the advancing army. AXIS SHIPS SUNK SUBMARINE SUCCESSES (Rec. 1 a.m.) LONDON, January 28. A British submarine sank a 6000-ton Italian merchantman, loaded with motor transports, en route to Tunisia from Italy, also a schooner near Sardinia, and a 2000-ton vessel. Another submarine torpedoed a 7000-ton German ship in the Gulf of Genoa. A third submarine sank a large merchantman in the Gulf of Genoa, and also bombarded a seaplane hangar on the coast for 15 minutes, scoring 10 hits. MUSSOLINI SAID TO BE ILL LONDON, Jan. 27. Mussolini is ill and is confined to his bed, according to reports reaching London from European diplomatic sources. No details are available. During the last few months there have been reports that II Duce’s health is failing. He is said to be suffering from a serious duodenal ulcer. BRITISH-RUSSIAN DISCUSSIONS UNITING JUGOSLAV PATRIOTS (8.0. W.) RUGBY. Jan. 27. Replying to a question in the_House of Commons, the Foreign Secretary (Mr R. A. Eden) said that certain questions of post-war reconstruction were being discussed by Britain and Russia, including the unification of the various insurgent forces in Jugoslavia. Britain ardently desired to get agreement with Russia about post-war questions and to prevent dissension anywhere in eastern Europe between the forces fighting the common enemy. U.S. Minister to Australia.—The Foreign Relations Committee of the United States Senate has approved the nomination of Mr Edward J. Flynn as Minister to Australia by 13 votes to 10. The Democratic senators. Senator Van Nuys, Senator Gillette, and Senator George, joined seven Republicans in the opposition vote. —Washington, January 27.