The Evening Star TUESDAY, MARCH 30, 1943. MARETH DEFENCES SMASHED.

Evening Star, Issue 24466, 30 March 1943, Page 2

The Evening Star TUESDAY, MARCH 30, 1943. MARETH DEFENCES SMASHED.

Nobody with any faith in the striking power of the Eighth Army and the military astuteness of the EisenhowerAlexander - Montgomery triumvirate could have believed for one moment that Rommel would succeed in holding the Mareth Line indefinitely. General .Montgomery, in charge on the immediate scene of operations, has revealed again that he knows where and when to hit hard. Through the use of boxing parlance, Mr Howard Marshall, the 8.8. C. .correspondent in North Africa, put the position succinctly when he said:- " Tins vitally important, | battle lias been decided by our <ionh'.e blow. First we hit him (Rommel) with a.right at Al.areui, ana then witn a left nook swept rouncrto .El flamnia. It was tne lexc hook that did it." It ivili thus be seen that ..Montgomery avoided as tar as possiple tao toe-to-toe slugging inseparable from tne frontal assault, ine success of tne El Mamma thrust, which threatened to cut through to the coast at Gaoes, obviously made the position of the Axis forces in the Maretn region untenable. The movement seems to have been a saialler-sca.e but nevertheless important replica of Hitler's greatest triumph—the lunge across the Meuse and tnrougu Sedan by means of which he side-stepped the painful necessity,, of having to batter at the Maginot .Line. > What follows will be watched with eager interest by all the enemies of the Axis, who wish to see " finis " written to tine Tunisian campaign and the development of a. still more formidable offensive against the disturbers of Europe's peace. Will Rommel be able to make an effective stand at any point between Gabes and Tunis:' Today's news states that the whole of the strongly organised Mareth defences are now iu Allied hands, and that the Germans are retreating rapidly towards the Gabes Gap, which presumably is the narrow stretch of land separating the Gabes area from the easterly tip of the Shott el ,)erid salt lake. About a week ago a Wilhelmstrasse spokesman hinted that Rommel might withdraw from the Mareth Line and make his principal stand on the newly-made Rommel Line reported to have been constructed across this strip. The Berlin authority claimed that the Mareth Line was not panzerproof or modern, whereas the Rommel Line was considerably stronger. Whether or not the Germans will he able,to put up'a'stiff fight at this point will depend on the amount of equipment it is possible to whisk away to the rear from under the Eighth Army's gunfire and bombing. If the terrain and the weather enable Montgomery and his air chief to fight true to form, Rommel, now rocking on his heels and maybe even down for some seconds of the count, will be given no breathing space in which to recuperate. In total warfare a belligerent does not retire to a corner if his opponent is knocked off his feet. Montgomery will come on with a jolting, two-fisted attack. And he has friends in the ring with hjm, too. From the west the Americans are squeezing in along the El Guettar-Sened-Maknassy line, and from the east, according to the latest reports, the guns of the Royal Navy are contributing heavy-weight punishment to the furious crescendo of the Allied assault. Rommel, in short, will be a classic general if he escapes from his present predicament without suffering his severest mauling yet.