Evening Post SATUEDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1942. TOBRUK A MILE-POST NOW

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 118, 14 November 1942, Page 6

Evening Post SATUEDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1942. TOBRUK A MILE-POST NOW

Tobruk, in the old days of peace an insignificant harbour in North Africa, so obscure that few people could have said offhand where it was, has from the vicissitudes of three years' war gained immortal fame. The Italians had made it a minor naval base for their Libyan colony and a supply port for their grandiose designs on the neighbouring territory of Egypt. They never got far in this enterprise attempted in the autumn of 1940. In the winter of that year General Wavell drove them out of Egypt, and in the first two months of 1941 out of Cyrenaica too. In the course of that campaign Tobruk fell into our hands. It remained still in our hands when Rommel's Afrika Korps swept our depleted forces — depleted to defend Greece-^out of Cyrenaica again. It was besieged for over six months, and" its successful defence against. great odds will always be a glorious page in the history of British arms, Australians playing a leading part. It 1 was relieved in the tough campaign of the winter of 1941, when the Axis was again driven out of. Cyrenaica, but was again threatened by the return wave of Rommel's offensive in the early months of this year which halted not many miles west of Tobruk. Then followed one of the great.disasters of British military history, when the Axis in May and June this year defeated the Eighth Arrays captured Tobruk, with a large garrison, and drove the retreating Allies to the very gateway of the Nile s Delta. But the fortunes of war have changed once more, and Tobruk is again ours after one. of the most devastating campaigns in history. But this time it is just a milestone in the road to victory, for such has been the transformation over the whole south shore of the Mediterranean that Rommel and his Afrika Korps and the wretched Italians whom they basely abandoned to save their own skins, are not likely to trouble Egypt or Libya any more.

Tobruk has been left behind in the swift pursuit of, the scattered remnants of Rommel's once-famous Korps. Whether any will escape from Africa is doubtful. Some hundreds who tried by air were shot down into the sea on their flight to Italy. As the Eighth Army sweeps westward at a pace nearly twice as fast as that of Rommel less than six months ago moving east, the AngloAmerican forces, after occupying the rest of French North Africa, are now entering Tunisia on the road to Tripoli, the westernmost port of Italian North Africa. There is still one vital strategic place in North Africa, vital to both sides, which may become the centre of conflict. This is Bizerta, the great French naval base, commanding the south shore of the narrow Sicilian Channel, the bottleneck of the Mediterranean. In Axis hands it would be a thorn in the side of the Allies; in Allied hands, it would assure Allied command of the sea and air in the southern Mediterranean from Gibraltar to Cyprus and the Suez Canal. It would be a jumping-off point for attacks on Sicily and Sardinia, and, later, Italy and Greece. There is one other factor in the problem before the Allies, and that is the important squadron of the French fleet last reported in Toulon harbour between Marseilles and the Riviera. Admiral Darlan from Algiers has broadcast a request to naval commanders at Toulon to sail and try to join the Allied fleets; Marshal Petain has ordered them to stay put. While the commanders are said to be undecided, the 'Germans and Italians are closing in on Toulon, and it may soon be too late. While the accession of the Toulon squadron would help to hasten the liberation of France, its immobilisation or transfer to the enemy would hardly now do more than complicate the issue. The situation now presented by what he calls "the most amazing transformation in the shortest possible time that we have seen in this war" is reviewed today by General Smuts, whose authority carries great weight. The veteran statesman and soldier sees the change as only the beginning—Mr. Churchill dubbed it as not so much the "beginning of the end" as the "end of the beginning." Bat the fact is that the Allies have definitely seized the initiative in the supremely important strategic area of the Mediterranean, and, says General Smuts, "once you have the initiative you strain every nerve to keep it and continue to pile on the agony till the enemy is finally overwhelmed." That is what Hitler tried to do, but, after an almost uninterrupted run of success, finally failed in Russia, where the initiative is now in suspense and is beginning to.show signs of passing to the Russians. Thus, in General Smuts's words, "the African victory may yet become the prelude to the end." Hitler, who has already lost the initiative in the air and is losing it on the land, retains yet one weapon on which he sets great store —the U-boat. In all their trials and tribulations the Allies have recognised that the U-boat is the most dangerous weapon in the hands of their enemies. It is still• un.mastered, and it remains Germany's last hope. "So also," says the eminent South African leader, "it should be our first and foremost task to tackle. Let us turn the enemy's great hope into his final despair."