ADMISSIONS BY AXIS

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23943, 10 May 1943, Page 5

ADMISSIONS BY AXIS

“ FORCES MUST SOON SUCCUMB” POSSIBLE REFUGE ON CAPE BON (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 11.30 p.m.) LONDON, May 8. A German High Command communique states; “Bizerte was given up after the destruction of military installations. Street fighting is going on in Tunis.” An Italian communique says: “The enemy, with crushing and overwhelming forces, succeeded in overcoming the heroic resistance at Tunis and Bizerte. The Italians in Central and Southern Tunisia are bravely continuing the struggle.” According to the Rome radio the Italians have taken up new positions on the Cape Bon peninsula. The admission that the outcome of the Tunisian battle was no longer in doubt was made by Captain Sertorius. the Berlin radio commentator, but he claimed that bitter fighting was still going on. “It was clear from the outset that with the huge forces at his disposal the enemy would one day

overcome the German and Italian bridgehead, which was really just an operational improvisation,” said Captain Sertorius. “This became a certainty when the British and Americans secured aif, as well as naval, superiority in the Mediterranean area. Their sea and air forces reduced traffic from Sicily to Tunisia to a negligible minimum.

“The German High Command achieved the maximum by delaying the decision for a full six months after the invasion of North Africa. The German and Italian forces are now split up into isolated nests which, although inflicting losses, must soon succumb.”

Captain Sertorius has ascribed the Axis failure in the last phase in 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 that the Allies were able to employ an overwhelming superiority of men and material, to which was added massed Royal Air Force activity on a scale hitherto unknown. Captain Sertorius said that in the attack south of the Mejerda river. General Anderson employed more than 400 tanks and more than 2000 aeroplanes. Fate of Axis Remnants

Reuter's correspondent at Allied Headquarters says that the Axis has one slender hope. It may have managed to get some forces to the Cape Bon peninsula. But the remnants of the Axis army, which has been cut to shreds in the last 36 hours, are not likely to be of much consequence. The Algiers radio says that most of the Axis high officers have left Tunisia by air. The Axis troops, who have been pushed back to the sea. have no choice but to surrender or face destruction. Any attempt at embarkation would be catastrophic, with Allied aeroplanes and warships barring the way. ,

"The Allies struck speedy and tremendous blows right across the last remaining tip of Tunisia held by the Axis, striking hard at the vitals of the last enemy positions in North Africa.” wrote a correspondent of the British Broadcasting Corporation in Tunisia. “Tunis and Bizerte are in our grasp. The enemy may go on fighting for some time and may then fall back into the mountains of Cape Bon in the northern tip of Tunisia, and continue resistance from there.

"Not only is the enemy facing British. American, and French armies in the north, but his isolated refnnants will have to contend with the formidable French mountain corps which is fighting northward from Pont du Fahs. Then there is the Bth Army on the right flank, ready for a sweep along the mountainous region on the east coast. The Allied air forces dominate the skies in this tiny corner of Africa, held by the enemy in a trembling grasp. 'There is no place where Allied airmen cannot seek him out.” The military writer of the "Daily Telegraph” says: "The news from the front gives the impression that we are