CONVERGING ON CAPE BON

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23944, 11 May 1943, Page 5

CONVERGING ON CAPE BON

Allies Mopping Up In Tunisia 50,000 PRISONERS SINCE FRIDAY (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rcc. 11 p.m.) LONDON, May 10. Reports from Tunisia to-day speak of steady progress by the Allied forces converging on the Cape Bon peninsula, where remnants of the Axis forces have taken refuge. In the Bizerte, Tunis, and Tebourba areas all organised resistance is at an end, though there is still a good deal of moppingup to be done. There was still heavy fighting yesterday at the base of the Cape Bon peninsula and in the area directly below it. Forces of the Bth and Ist Armies and French troops are threatening to cut off all the Axis forces on the peninsula. A special Allied Headquarters communique says that at least 50,000 Axis prisoners have been taken since Friday. The communique also says that the 2nd United States Corps has completed the mopping-up of the area round Bizerte, where organised resistance has ceased. Three German divisional commanders and their staffs have been captured. The commanders and the remnants of the 15th Panzer Division surrendered to their old opponents, the 7th British Armoured Division. “With the occupation of Zagjiouan by the French and the encirclement of the Cape Bon peninsula, where British infantry and tank forces and the United States 2nd Corps are continuously advancing, the Tunisian campaign- seems to have approached its end,” says an Allied communique broadcast by the Algiers radio. It adds: “Enemy resistance is completely disorganised and prisoners are surrendering by thousands, while important quantities of war material are being abandoned by the Axis on the roads, which are being systematically machinegunned and bombed by the Allies. Pockets of enemy troops are being methodically eliminated.”

The 8.8.C. has corrected a renort in an earlier transmission that the Allies had captured Hammamet, which would have meant that the entrance to the Cape Bon Peninsula had been sealed. It was Hamman Lit, 10 miles south-east of Tunis, which was captured. Heavy fighting continues in the area of Hammamet and in the area north of Zaghouan, No enemy aircraft have been seen over Tunisia and the German Air Force appears to have withdrawn from the battle. The official news that 50,000 prisoners had been taken since Friday came a few minutes after General Eisenhower’s usual communique, which gave the figure of at least 20,000 prisoners since Wednesday. This sharp rise in the number indicates how successful the mopping-up operations have been. An earlier message said that 5000 Germans surrendered unconditionally on Sunday morning in the Bizerte area after vain attempts to evacuate. One report from Algiers says that the Allies have already taken prisoner 60,000 Axis troops. A correspondent in Tunis reports that the Ist Army alone had captured 25,000 Italians and Germans by Saturday night. Hemmed in on land and from the tea. the Axis forces are still taking a terrific hammering from the Allied air forces. All day on Saturday Allied aircraft were attacking enemy troop concentrations and transport. Vehicles were left in flames and a number of gounded aeroplanes were destroyed.' Shipping round the coast of the Cape Bpn peninsula also came in for heavy > strafing, and direct hits were scored l, m several ships, V Retreat to Cape Bon "*The Allied forces have crushed enemy resistance in north Tunisia, except for isolated pockets which will be mopped up at leisure," says a correspondent in North Africa. "Von Arnim’s battered remnants, which are hastening towards Cape Bon, are taking terrible punishment from tho air, while Allied columns are closing in on the base of Cape Bon from all directions and with all speed. Each is determined to outdo the other in fulfilling General Alexander’s order to kick the Axis forces into the sea," “If there ever was a beaten army, this is it,” says the Algiers correspondent of the Columbia Broadcasting System. "They simply do not know what to think. They are dazed and disorganised. They run away from perfectly good and long-prepared positions. They have for once forgotten to lay mines. They leave their clothes, food, and guns. They just break.’’ The correspondent of the British United Press at Allied Headquarters says: “The Ist Army, the Bth Army, and the French 19th Corps are all converging on the base of Cape Bdn peninsula and sweeping the Germans rapidly into a pocket. The full weight cf Allied armour has been thrown in against the disorganised Germans. "The British 6th Armoured Division Js driving a spearhead south-east along (he coast after overcoming severe opposition at Hamman Lif and is now nearing Souliman. Everywhere, ex-

HEAVY RAID ON PALERMO 400 U.S. BOMBERS TAKE PART DAMAGE TO DOCKS AND WAR INDUSTRIES (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, May 9. Air Headquarters in North Africa has announced that the heaviest bombing raid fiver carried out from North Africa were made in daylight to-day against Palermo, in Sicily. More than 400 American aeroplanes took part. The weight of bombs dropped on Palermo was five times that of any other raid in the North African campaign, says a correspondent. Docks and war factories, all concentrated within one square mile, were the target. Fortresses attacked at noon and medium bombers half an hour later. Explosions and fires were visible 50 miles away. The smoke was so dense that reconnaissance aircraft were unable to take pictures an hour later. ,Jhipyards and the Fiat factory were r '« A correspondent who flew with the bombers said that the air was Oiled With bombs spilling down from the c raft. The raiders met with heavy antiaircraft tire and many Messcrschmitts tame up to intercept. The correspondent said he saw four of these shot down. He said that Palermo had received a terrible battering, which Would be a warning to the Italian People of what they could expect now that Africa is in Allied hands. There was also a heavy raid on the Italian base of Pantellaria, 50 miles from Cape Bon. More than 100 aircraft took part and they did heavy damage to landing grounds and installations. “A strong force of Tactical Air Force bombers and Strategic Air Force fighters heavily attacked the airfield °r Pantellaria. destroyed several aeroplanes on the ground, hit airfield buildings, and left large fires,” says an Allied communique. An Algiers message says that 100 Desert Air Force bombers hammered Pantellaria, alter which fighter-bombers added to the damage. This was the heaviest attack dgainst Mussolini's "Malta.” Malta’s lighter-bombers yesterdav attacked ports m Sicily, bombs falling ? ear a Power-station, on industrial Puddings, an] on a railway station, combers last night successfully attacked Marsala, in Sicily,

espt along the coast road, German resistance is confused. A spokesman at Allied Headquarters summed up the position when he said ‘The enemy is in a hell of a mess.’ ” No Escape “Tho enemy forces which have reached Cape Bon are finding no sanctuary,” says Reuter's correspondent. "They have the sea under Allied control on three sides with powerful armoured infantry forces pressing them ever harder from the base of the peninsula, and bombs and bullets rain down from Allied aeroplanes which have almost undisputed control of the “Ailied airmen have already stopped several Axis attempts to escape by boat. The airmen hit the Italians and Germans before they got far enough for the waiting Allied naval vessels to deal with them. About 30 men scrambling into small boats on the east side of Cape Bon were killed or scattered. Allied airmen patrolling along the coast also broke up an enemy party getting into small boats at the Porto Farina, cast of Bizerte. Allied airmen are pursuing and attacking Axis troops wherever they have not surrendered.” When some of the British troops entered Tunis on Friday night they found Germans walking along the streets unaware that the Ist Army was in the city. A party of German officers was dining in one of the hotels. When a British officer walked in they escaped through the kitchen. Giving these instances of the swiftness of the final British advance, a war correspondent adds: “Thousands of Germans md Italians yesterday streamed into the prisoners’ cages—mostly Germans. They came trudging unescorted into our lines, showing no heart for fight. Most of them said they had been surprised by the speed of our push. "Sniping went on in the city last night, and one anti-tank gun kept firing until all the crew had been killed.” The Berlin radio has admitted that both Marshal Rommel and General von Arnim have left Tunisia and that the troops are now under the control of an Italian general, The Bey of Tunis is reported to have fled to Italy.

ALLIED NAVAL SWEEPS LIGHT FORCES ACTIVE OFF TUNISIA BAD WEATHER HINDERS OPERATIONS LONDON, May 9. "The Allied navies are flanking the enemy’s evacuation lane from Tunisia to Sicily with the greatest concentration of motor torpedo-boats ever assembled in history,” says the correspondent of the British United Press with the British Fleet. These boats arc sweeping the enemy’s only remaining channel of escape. Reuter's correspondent with the Fleet says that the weather tends to favour the passage of small craft through "Suicide Alley" Between Tunisia and Sicily. "The nights are pitch black, and driving rain and sleet last night cut down visibility practically to zero,” he says, “We contacted several small craft, which after a burst of our gunfire hurried away in the darkness.

“It seems clear as a result of observation in the last few nights that the Axis is not prepared to risk a big loss of ships but that it is using fast, elusive destroyers, torpedo-boats, and sinbel ferry-boats. Sinbels are heavily constructed, flat-bottomed, twin-hulled vessels connected by a platform bridge on which are mounted aeroplane screws giving a speed of about 10 knots. They arc strongly armed and can accommodate a fair-sized cargo. During a nightlong sweep there was hardly a moment when aeroplanes were out of the vicinity. Some of them swooped low. enabling us to pepper them with flak. Many of these aeroplanes are large troop-carriers. One Allied ship shot down two of them. They flew over at mast height." A special communique from Allied Headquarters in North Africa says: "Last night strong formations of light naval forces were active in the Straits of Sicily, the Gulf of Tunis, and o.i the east coast of the Cape Bon peninsula. These units had the task of sinking. setting on fire, and destroying enemy surface craft. The operations of the Allied craft were strongly impeded by bad weather and high seas. In spite of these hindrances, one enemy surface vessel was damaged. Several of our units were exposed to aerial at-