PANTELLERIA SHELLED

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 May 1943, Page 5

PANTELLERIA SHELLED

NAVY’S EFFECTIVE ATTACK SICILIAN PORT ABLAZE AXIS PRISONERS TOTAL 170,000

LONDON, May 14

Allied air and sea forces are paying increasing attention to Italy’s island strongholds in the Mediterranean. Early, yesterday morning ships of the Mediterranean Fleet shelled Paritelleria, in the Sicilian Narrows 50 miles east of Cap Bon, for more than 20 minutes. Broadside after broadside crashed into the naval area. Flares to light up the area were dropped by pilots of the Fleet Air Arm. One pilot said: “The shells came in hard, landing well on the target. They were bursting all alpng the mole and among shipping.” Correspondents say that the sun was just rising over the Mediterranean when the pilots who took part in tne operation returned to Malta. , Since the capture of Tunisia and Bizerta, Allied air attacks on Pantelleria have developed into a sustained assault. Sicily also has been heavily battered during the week, the highlight being the massed raid by 400 American aircraft on Palermo. Axis airfields in Sicily, says one correspondent, have had a terrific drubbing. The mdin news from Tunisia is still of the rounding-up of Axis prisoners. Correspondents say that the final count may bring the total to 175.000.

HAVOC AT CAGLIARI. "RUGBY, May 14. Allied air forces continued destroying Italian ports with heavy raids. Fortresses, Mitchells .and Marauders unloaded high explosives and incendiaries on shipping, industrial buildings, and harbour works at Cagliari, and when they left a huge pall ol smoke hung over the city. Oil tanks were hit and gasworks are believed to have exploded: also a large cnemical plant. A huge fire was started at the east end of the docks, whilst other fires blazed in the industrial part. The fires could be seen for hundreds of miles. FOURTEEN ENEMY LOSSES ~~RUGBY, May 14. Fortresses led the attack on Cagliari, then Mitchells and Marauders which sent bombs down through swirling smoke. The raiders were attacked by German and Italian fighters, which dived down on them, but Allied bombers, with the escort of Lightnings and Warhawks, shot down nine enemy fighters, for the loss ot only one escorting fighter. , Another attempt to attack Algiers was completely ineffective, no damage being done, five raiders again being destroyed.

SEVENTEEN GENERALS TAKEN

RUGBY, May 14

The total of prisoners in Tunisia is given by a correspondent as 170,000, including 17 Generals, of whom 13 are German. Small enemy groups who held out till noon yesterday were west of Bou Ficha, but most were only awaiting the opportunity to surrender.

CAPTURED GENERALS

LONDON, May 13

The surrender of General Messe was arranged in accordance with his wish to surrender only to the Eighth Army. He is reported to have surrendered to General Montgomery in person. A son-in-law of the King of Italy. General Count Calvi di Bergolo. surrendered with him. Bergqlo. who is aged about 42 years married Princess Yolande in 1923. He was originally a cavalry officer and a famous rider; and has competed at horse shows in London. Mussolini, following Hitler’s example of promoting General Paulus to Marshal on the day of his defeat at Stalingrad has promoted General Messe to be Marshal of Italy. _ Von Arnim, before his capture sent a message to Hitler: “Orders to defend Tunisia to the last cartridge have been carried out.” Other generals captured are Major General Franz, Commanding Officer-in-Chief of the 19th Anti-aircraft Division and for the past few days Commander of the Hermann Goering Division in place of General Schmidt, Major General Schnarrendberger, Commander of the Lines of Communication, Colonel Hulzen, acting m command of the 21st Panzer Division. The captured Italians include General Costa, second in command of the Centauro Division, General Apponte, President of a Military Tribunal. A special communique from Hitler’s Headquarters claimed that the Axis forces finally succumbed to lack of supplies and not to the enemy s assault. Nevertheless, the task assigned to them was fully accomplished. They tied down in Nortn Africa strong enemy forces and inflicted heavy losses, relieving other fronts, and gained time. The communique states that Hitler on May 10 sent a message of thanks and appreciation to von Arnim adding that the h'proic fight had been of the highest value for the result of ffie war.

ABANDONED EQUIPMENT

LONDON, May 14

A correspondent describes a .journey he made through the Cap Bon territory after the Axis resistance ceased.‘Time and again, he said the car in which he was travelling _haci to null in to allow convoys of German and Italian trucks carrying prisoners to pass on the narrow road. As the correspondents party went on they came to Axis vehicles abandoned on the roadside. Then the number increased until the whole countryside was littered with them. They had been abandoned in such haste that many of them could be made serviceable without much mechanical adjustment. Tommies were tinkering with the engines of some ol the vehicles, and after a few adjustments were driving them off.

CROSSING THE NARROWS.

LONDON. May 14

Futile attempts by Germans and Italians to cross the Sicilian narrows after the Tunisian debacle have been described by a correspondent with the British naval forces in the Mediterranean. . , . Telling how destroyers in his division chased and set ablaze two enemy tankers carrying tanks, munitions, and troops, he adds: ‘'Later, outside the Gulf of Tunis, I saw m all its pathetic extent the attempts of the men to get home. Perhaps half a dozen craft of all kinds were spread over the sea. None had travelled more than a score of miles, and all were rounded up by British destroyers. I saw one soldier pulling like mad in a tiny dinghy. Another small boat contained three men. Another contained eight men who paddled desperately with shovels.” ' - ■ DEFENCE OF ITALY. LONDON, May 14. Mussolini has entrusted the defence of Italy to a military hierarchy consisting of himself, King Victor

Emanuel, and Marshals Graziani, De Bono, and Caviglia.

DESTRUCTION OF ARMY

RUGBY, May, 14. The destruction by the Allies of an entire army, of which 1/O,UUU were made prisoner, has given tne German military spokesman the task of explaining away the second major defeat in six months. The claim that the Tunisian campaign delayed the Allied offensive plans does not bear examination. The Allied landing m North Africa drew Axis troops from Europe, not from Rommel’s army, then nearly 2000 miles away, and the Tunisian campaign did not materially affect Rommel’s operations until he lost Tripoli. As he approached Tunisia, he could get the support of heavy supplies like tanks through Tunisian ports. The final destruction of his army, however, was not delayed more than two or three months at the most by the resistance in Tunisia. Against any delay can be set the complete liquidation of very large Axis forces over and above the original Afrika Korps. The statement that they were not defeated in the field is disposed of by the large quantities of stores captured. One dump contained 12.000 tons of unused ammunition, and another a million rations, which shows that the Axis forces vzere out-general led and disintegrated.

UNITY OF COMMAND

RUGBY, May 14

Not the least of the , advantages gained by the North African victory has, in General Eisenhower’s opinion, been the forging of a single command, in which service to the common purpose overrides national ambitions. So valuable, he said, is this that it almost outweighs the cost to the Allies in time and lives of the failure to reach Tunis six months ago. A pattern has been found for an armed ■ force of the United Nations, on sea, land, and air, and this gives the surest grounds foi - encouragement and hope ■for whatever the future may demand. The Commander-in-Chief further explained that harmony had not ibeen evolved in ease and security, but while the troops were being mauled at the front, when the tendency to criticise the Allies was likely to be strongest. He considered that Americans would become knit into a body of first class fighting

NAVY’S PART

RUGBY. May 14

The part played by the Navy in the completion of the African campaign is now coming to light. Such attempts at evacuation as were made by the Axis were effectually smashed. Enemy ships sunk were mostly small craft, and the Navy brought in 435 prisoners. A Gorman General captured from a coastal vessel was the Chief of Staff of the Fifth Panzer Division. No Axis warships were encountered, and there was little Üboat activity. There was some initial trouble with E-boats, but after six were sunk they practically disappeared. Bizerta and Ferryville were badly knocked about, but naval facilities at Tunis were not greatly damaged.

MR. STIMSON'S VIEW

LONDON, May 13

“The Tunisian victory will have infinitely more effect on the ultimate outcome of the war than if we had won the November race for Tunis,” declared the United States Secretary for War (Mr. Stimson), addressing a Press conference in Washington. “IT we had won the race the Axis would have attributed the victory to the element of .surprise. However, as the campaign turned out we beat the Axis African armies to their knees, despite serious initial disadvantages. The result of this victory is now spreading far and wide in the Reich and the "occupied countries. Attributing the Tunisian victory to General Eisenhower’s brilliant planning and to superb co-ordination of the land, sea, and air forces, Mr. Stimson predicted that similar results could be secured elsewhere. He declared that the Tunisian debacle was the equal of Stalingrad. The Germans, he said, seemed to have been overwhelmed by the speed and power of the Allied advance. They had fought bravely, but they certainly were not supermen in defeat. Mr. Stimson said that the Allied casualties were heavy in the final phase of the campaign.

DEAL WITH FRENCH

JOURNALIST’S DISCLOSURES

NEW YORK, May 14. The disclosure that General Giraud wanted to assume supreme command in North Africa is made by Hanson Baldwin in the. “New York Times,” in an article on his recent tour ol Tunisia.

Baldwin says: “When the American, Lieutenant-General Mark Clark, landed in North Africa in a British submarine last October, he carried a letter to General Giraud proposing that the latter go to North Africa when the British and Americans landed. General Giraud agreed, but stipulated that he should assume command of the expedition. His reply was not received, and when General Giraud arrived at Gibraltar on November 7. he was under the impression that he was to take over the supreme command.” Baldwin adds: “The British and American scheme appointing General Giraud commander of the French armies in North Africa almost foundered on General Giraud’s stubborn insistence, and only after an hour’s discussion with General Eisenhower and General Clark was agreement reached. General de Gaulle was noi chosen to lead the French armies because of his failure at Dakar and because preliminary soundings indicated that he was not acceptable to the soldiers and people. No deal was made with Admiral Darlan before the landings, but after the landings the Allied treated with Admiral Darlan because he was able to 'deliver the goods’—order the cessation oi French resistance —which General Giraud could not do.” After a long analysis of confused political and' racial difficulties i m North Africa. Baldwin concluaed: “The basic conception of the British and American plans was that I renca North Africa should be treated as an ally, not as conquered or occupied territory. Sometimes we made bad mistakes, but they were human mistakes, but they were mistakes. There was no hidden or sinister meaning to oyr errors as far as I could discover .

FAMILY AS HOSTAGES

RUGBY, May 14.

A correspondent reports that when General Giraud visited Tunis, he learned that his daughter and his two grandchildren aged three and four, had been removed to Germany as hostages. They were living at Tunis

when the Germans landed in November, and were since kept under close observation. A few weeks ago they were taken from home and are believed to have been transported to Germany by air. Giraud’s son in-law went with the General in expectation of meeting his wife and children, and not until they arrived did they learn the truth.

FRENCH UNDER FREYBERG.

[N.Z.E.F. Official War Correspondent]

CAIRO, May 10

For a few weeks last .March, Fighting French forces, under the orders of General. Leclerc, operating in the desert, came under the command of Lieutenant-General Freyberg and fought hand in hand with the New Zealanders. The story of the Fighting French contact with the New Zealanders is told in a broadcast by Lieutenant Benard, a member of General LeclerUs forces. The first meeting with the New, Zealanders was in the Winter of 1940-41, when a few Frenchmen with practically no arms or equipment, but fired by General de Gaulle’s rallying call, struck out across 500 miles of previously unknown desert to attack the strong Italian oasis outpost of Koufra. This force on the way met a New Zealand soldier for the first time. He was a member of the Long-range Desert Group. His unit had been attacked by Italian land and air forces and his truck was destroyed. With one comrade he set out on a 300-railcs trek. There was only one well on the way, but when they reached it they found it filled, with sand. One New Zealander died of thirst and the other was found unconscious by a French patrol. This meeting in dramatic circumstances was not easily forgotten. Lieutenant Benard told the story of the gradual strengthening of the French forces iri the Chad territory and said that raids had been carried out on Mourzouk and other oases. General Leclerc’s force moved northward for the third and last time last, December, conquered the whole of the southern territories, and met the Bth Army GO miles south of Tripoli. The brigade came under the command of General Freyberg and was linked with other French troops. During the fortnight after the start of the turning movement towards El Harnma, the French acted as a screen l west of Matmata for the New Zealanders, fighting a fierce battle with a German armoured column. “We French feel that we have made one step nearer the liberation of France.” commented Lieutenant Benard. “To our friends of all nations bound in the common struggle against the Axis, to New Zealanders at home, and to Frenchmen in New Zealand and the adjoining countries, I bring greetings from General Leclore’s' soldiers, who have never been beaten by the Boche. and never will

CONGRATULAiDRY MESSAGES

MR ROOSEVELT’S REPLY

.WELLINGTON, May 14. The Prime Minister . (Mr Fraser) has received the following cablegram from Mr Roosevelt:—“l am grateful to you for your telegram of congratulations’ on the successful conclusion of the Tunisian campaign. We are happy and proud to have been partners with New Zealand arms. Your people can for ever be extolled for the splendid part they have taken in the liberation of the Continent of Africa from the Axis yoke. I know that New Zealand troops will help in the continuance of the world tight against slavery ” Mr Fraser has sent the following message to Mr Curtin: “I desire to thank you most warmly for your message of congratulations on the part the New Zealand troops played in the victorious Tunisian campaign. Such a message is doubly appreciated ■when it comis from those with whom we had so often shared, as comrades in arms, the hardships and cares of military campaigns in , distant theatres of war and with whom we now face, shoulder to shoulder, the menace of Japanese aggression against our own shores.”

S. AFRICAN CONGRATULATIONS

WELLINGTON, May 14

Mr. Fraser has received from General Smuts a message congratulating New Zealand on the magnificent part its forces under General Freyberg played in the Middle East campaigns, and on their glorious share in the final phase at Cap Bon. “None rejoice more in the honours they won.” he said, “than South African comrades, who in so many hard-fought battles stood side by side with them in this prolonged campaign. This long march is also a long step to ultimate victory and New Zealand has the proud consciousness that she has made an outstanding contribution to it. The effect of that contribution will also be felt at no distant date in the Far East.”

Replying, Mr. Fraser said: — “The warm and generous terms of your message of congratulations will be received with the greatest pleasure by the people of the Dominion, who rejoice to-day in thankfulness and pride that their sons, under the most distinguished leadership of General Freyberg, should have contributed in so glorious a manner towards achieving the final victory in Tunisia. On behalf of the Government and the people of New Zealand. I send most cordial greetings and congratulations to the gallant forces of the Union of South Africa, with whom our men have been so proud to serve as comrades in arms through the arduous period of service in North Africa. I am conveying the terms of your telegram to General Freyberg.”'

The Prime Minister has announced that it is proposed to mark the victory in North Africa by holding thanksgiving services in the churches throughout the Dominion on Sunday. The proposal has the approval of the Governor-General (Sir Cyril Newall) and leaders of the churches in New Zealand have readily agreed to make the necessary arrangements to fall in with the Government's wishes.

FIJI'S RESOLUTION

SUVA. May 14

The Legislative Council to-day passed unanimously the following resolution: “This Council offers the sincere congratulations to all members of the' Allied Forces which so signally defeated the common enemies in North Africa, alter an arduous campaign fought with unflinching heroism and perseverance, and with the happy co-operation ol the United States, French and British Empire.” Mr Ratu Jiv Sukuna, a native member, supporting the resolution, stressed the part played by Mr Churchill in the preparations for the crushing blow which had fallen on the enemy. Without those preparations and arrangements the glorious victory could not have been won.

MIDDLE EAST CONFERENCE.

LONDON. May 17

The four-day conference of the Middle East Council of British military and civil chiefs has ended in Cairo. An official statement said that the council had been hammering out solutions to various military, polical, and economic problems.

TURKS LEARNING ENGLISH

RUGBY. May 14

Interest in British culture in the Middle East was revealed by Mr L. A. F. Dundas, one of the experts of the British Council in the Middle

East. He states that President Inonu is taking lessons in English from a British business man at Ankara. The Turkish Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister, and the Minister of Education are also students of English. German professors are being replaced by English professors-in many educational institutions in Turkey, Egypt, Iraq and Persia.