NEARING SHOWDOWN

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 39, 16 February 1943, Page 5

NEARING SHOWDOWN

AXIS BUILDING UP

FORCES

LONDON, February 15

The enemy's withdrawal to Ben Gardane, which is near the coast 25 miles inside Tunisia and some distance in front of the main Mareth fortifications, was definitely made under pressure from our forward troops, says Reuters Cairo correspondent. The scale of the fighting in this area is not considerable, but the move constitutes a real push along1 the road to Ben Gardane by our columns in the coastal sector.

The movement has been carried out in rather better weather, but the elements are still a hindrance to our advance. The Eighth Army's inland push is marking time, but patrols are still operating from the advanced lines.

The German radio says that observation frem the air and the ground has confirmed that the Eighth Army is again attempting to outflank the German and Italian rearguard positions from the south. The German news agency says that Axis advance guards captured a group of British and American siff officers who were overtaken in darkness while inspecting defences.

Reuters correspondent with the First Army says that the Germans seem to trust the Arabs, whom they are conscripting for front-line fighting, more than they do their conscripts from the conquered European countries. Poles are used as sappers to precede the tanks and infantry and search for mines, whereas the Arabs who have been taken prisoner were used for night patrols and laying mines.

The Tunisian correspondent of the "New York Times" says that Hitler

cannot afford td lose one battle in Tunisia.

"The corridor which Rommel holds is so narrow that the loss of one battle would split the German forces," he says. "In spite of the defeats in Russia Hitler is still pushing infantry from Europe into Tunisia by plane and ship, and it is obvious that the North African campaign is becoming a showdown rather than a sideshow preparatory, to an invasion of Europe.

"Though the Allied air forces are able to strike at the Axis bases harder than the enemy can hit ours, the Germans are still maintaining local air superiority somehow, compensating for their lack of numbers by quality. On the other hand, the illusion of superiority on the part of the German tanks was definitely shattered when the excellent British artillery easily knocked out several of Rommel's giant tanks. "It is estimated that the Germans have 90,000- troops in north and 75,000 in southern Tunisia, and also 450 planes, most of which are fighters."