Manawatu Evening Standard TUESDAY, DEC. 29, 1942. A GREAT ACHIEVEMENT

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXIII, Issue 25, 29 December 1942, Page 4

Manawatu Evening Standard TUESDAY, DEC. 29, 1942. A GREAT ACHIEVEMENT

Ln" tlie course of his Christmas message to the Eighth Army its brilliant commander, General Montgomery, comments upon the wonderful achievements since the Battle of Egypt was commenced on October 2 : 5 last. So rapid has been the retreat of Rommel's once proud Afrika Korps, the army that smashed through the British and allied forces in the dark days of last June and forced them back on the El Alamein line, and so vast has been the distance covered since the Italians were basely deserted and ilie Germans sought safety in flight, that it is not impossible to overlook the tremendous nature of the victory that the Eighth Army has won and is still winning. Overcoming all the natural difficulties of the desert, surmounting the deadly obstacles left by the defeated Germans to retard the pursuit, and maintaining remarkably efficient lines of communication to feed and supply its troops, the Eighth Army 'has sought to bring the -Afrika Eorps again to battle, but Rommel refuses to satisfy this desire and the same celerity of speed he showed across Cyrenaica is manifest in his retirement in Tripoli!ania. It is clear_ that Rommel has no intention of giving battle if he can avoid it, and that he will wait until he has linked his army with the Axis in Tunisia before fighting again.

In this wonderful achievement of the Eighth Army every branch has played its part. A ■correspondent has drawn-atten-I tion to the brilliant work of the sappers in clearing the roads at the rate of 25 miles a day and in removing mines from the airfields the Afrika Korps occupied, GOO being taken from the Marble Arch aerodrome alone. Such outstanding work has enabled the mobile forces to keep up with the enemy and to force him back each day at a fast rate. The Eighth Army has been brilliantly supported by the Air Force and the Navy in its superb adva'nce. The airmen have been swift upon the heels of the pursued, advancing their bases to enable the fighters to keep control of the air. These bases are not much more than mere landing places in the desert, rough and difficult in parts, but wherever an airman can land his plane and the ground staff' can maintain its servicing there the air bases are built. With Ihe _ retreat deep into Tripolitania, the Navy is restoring the sea ports battered in our air raids and destroyed by the enemy, and what lias been achieved at Benghazi stands as witness to the speed with which restoration proceeds. Every mile towards Tunisia lengthens our communications and increases our supply difficulties, but their maintenance is assured and this is not the least of the war's successes.