Will Rommel Fight at Mareth ?

Manawatu Times, Volume 68, Issue 24, 29 January 1943, Page 5

Will Rommel Fight at Mareth ?

LONDON, Jan. 27. The Eighth Army is approaching the Mareth Line, where Rommel has massed the Afrika Korps, says the Germancontrolled Paris radio. A battle is expected soon near Gabes (21 miles north west of the coastal end of the Mareth Line).

It is believed in London that Rommel is unlikely to attempt anything more than a rearguard fight on the Mareth Line with the remnants of his army, which now possibly totals 40,000 to 50,00' It is not sound, from the military viewpoint, for two comparatively small forces like Rommel’s and von Arnlm’s to flghi 200 miles apart. Undoubtedly the Axis aim is to effect a junction of the two armies.

The Daily Telegraph’s Algiers correspondent says the Germans, after five days of bitter fighting, have widened their original 33-mile bottle neck between Pont du Fahs and the coast Into a 45 mile strip. This will be the corridor through which Rommel hopes to bring hit harried troops to temporary sanctuary.