RACE TO TRIPOLI

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 145, 16 December 1942, Page 5

RACE TO TRIPOLI

ODDS FAVOUR EIGHTH

ARMY

MERGING BATTLES

(By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright.) j (Rec. 11.20 a.m.) LOiTDON, Dec. 15. The battles in North Africa are rapidly merging into one campaign. In the race to enter Tripoli the first \ odds are in favour of the Eighth Army, whose advanced units are in close con-; tact with the enemy rearguard. ! Vichy radio quotes a Berlin report I that Rommel is expected to make a, resolute stand near Sirte. Rommel succeeded, under strong pressure, in disengaging his forces without loss, and has withdrawn to pre-arranged positions. A "New York Times" correspondent with the Eighth Army says there were enough Axis troops at El Agheila to have made a determined and lengthy resistance which would have been costly to General Montgomery's forces, but there were insufficient German effectives. If Rommel had decided to hold the line at El Agheila he would have been obliged to leave the burden of actual defence to the Italians and to allow the required mobility to experienced elements of the Afrika Korps. However, the political situation in Italy made it inadvisable to burden the Italian people with another almost certain defeat. It was another instance of the German army leaving their allies in the lurch. ALLIED AERIAL SCOUR. Allied fighter-bombers are scouring every mile of the desert west of El Agheila, seeking out, strafing, and bombing -Rommel's fleeing columns as they race for cover amid the wadis and gorges. Along the roads leading to Marble Arch lie scores of smashed or burned-out hulks of German lorries and other vehicles. The terrain in some areas prevents vehicles deviating in the slightest degree from the roads, and the traffic therefore forms an excellent target for Allied planes. Burning vehicles on the narrow road sections are adding to the Axis difficulties. The Allied forces .found Mersa Brega filled with booby-traps, and orders were given not to touch or kick anything. Ttffe enemy even left explosives in water-bottles and heaps of refuse. Reuters correspondent reports from Medjez el Bab that the Germans are using mules to drag tanks into position during the night. This is only one of many tricks the enemy are employing. Another is the use of captured American tanks manned by German crews disguised in American uniforms. German tanks in several sectors were found displaying the yellow star, which is the distinctive mark of the Allied fighting transport vehicles.