STEADY PROGRESS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 67, 20 March 1943, Page 5

STEADY PROGRESS

ALLIED OFFENSIVE TOWARDS GABES

(By Telegraph—Press Association—ropyright.) (Rec. 12.30 p.m.) LONDON, March 19. Although the movement of the Allied troops is slow and unspectacular at present, probably because of the fact that the ground is a quagmire, the thrust from Gafsa to Gabcs is steadily progressing:. Algiers radio tonight reported that Franco-American forces' were bearing down rapidly on Sehed. 20 miles from El Guettar on the railway to Sfax. The Allies, after«x the withdrawal from Tamera; are now holding positions three miles south-west of Tamera. Reuters Algiers correspondent, commenting on this withdrawal, points out that yon Arnim's forward units are only 20 miles from the vital road junction of Djebel Abiod, the capture of which would enable the Germans to outflank the British further south in the Beja area. The British United Press correspondent, however, takes a less serious view of the evacuation of Tamera, saying that only a limited Axis force attacked j and that the thrust cannot be considered a serious threat to General! Anderson's line. The correspondent i adds that Hurri-bombers and Spitfires ' attacked Tamera after our evacuation 'and set fire to the railway station.