NO STAND BY ROMMEL

Grey River Argus, 22 January 1943, Page 5

NO STAND BY ROMMEL

No Time for One Allowed ! EIGHTH ARMY’S SUPERIORITY. (Rec. 9.15.) LONDON. Jan. 20. The Eighth Army is nearing Tripoli, and there is apparently no check on General Montgomery’s swift pursuit of "Marshal Von Rommel’s scurrying forces. Therefore, war correspondents and observers are coming to the conclusion that the Afrika Korps will evacuate Tripoli, and will augment the Axis forces in Tunisia for an allout stand to retain their toehold in Africa. Reuter’s Cairo correspondent says: The Eighth Arrnv is rolling up the map so rapidly that Marshal Von Rommel is running short of his most precious weapon, namely, time. The weight of men and material General Montgomery is throwing in threatens to disrupt the Axis rearguards before Marshal Rommel is able to organise his next move, whether it is on e of resistance or escape. In spite of reports of Axis troops embarking at Tripoli, the Morocco radio to-niglu has declared that part of Marshal Von Rommel’s forces have already been seen well westward of Tripoli, and moving rapidly to Tunisia The correspondent adds: "This indicates that Marshal Rommel may be taking the only alternative to complete sea evacuation, namely, to force his way through bv land to Tunis. Either course that Marshal Rommel takes is studded with difficulties. He is confined to four main tracks, which are radiating from Tripoli. The R.A.F. is leap-frogging to forward aerodromes as they are relinquished, and is hammering fleeing columns and blasting Tripoli’s harbour and aerodrome at Castle Benito. The Eighth Army’s advanced units throughout the day land yesterday {maintained contact with Marshal Rommel’s rearguards, although the ground is at present broken and hilly. Our left flank has already penetrated the Jebel region, and is nearing an escarpment from which plains drop down to Tripoli,' inviting fast progress. "The Times’s’’ Cairo correspondent says: General Montgomery’s army is now operating fifteen hundred miles from its main base

Some supplies are sent by sea to Benghazi. There is only a singletrack railway a short part of the way from the main base. The most urgent items are transported by .air, but road transport is the backbone of the Eighth Army’s supply. On the other hand, the enemy during his long retreat has continually been falling back on his own supply lines. The fact that with such an advantage the Axis forces have been unable to make a stand anywhere is proof ot the Eighth Army’s superiority and of the immense damage that has been done to the German war machine in the battle of El Alamein.” The African correspondent of the British Associated Press stated: K.A.f’. ■ airmen, returning to their bases after bombing Marshal Kommel’s fleeing columns, described a fifty mile stretch of roadway between Tripoli and Zuara as a shambles of wrecked vehicles. At one point a line of traffic a mile long was bombed and shot up until vehicles piled up in a hopeless jam, completely blocking the road. Allied airmen als 0 report tires in Tripoli, and intermittent explosions in the dock area.