Small Hope of Rommel Holding Mareth Line
RUGBY, Jan. 28. A correspondent with, the Eighth Army reports that yesterday bad weather almost entirely stopped air activity. The terrain is unfavourable for a rapid advance. The Allied positions now run in a fairly straight line from el Bab to a few miles west of JKairwan. It is estimated that Rommel now commands about 50,000 men and possibly 100 tanks. It is probably true that only 20,000 of these are front-line soldiers and the rest base and garrison troops picked up in the retreat. Arguments against his making a permanent stand with such a force on the Mareth Line arc strong. His front, extending from the north coast, west of Bizerta to the Mareth Line, would be 250 miles long and the combined Axis force of 120,000 to 140,000 would be very thinly spread and unfavourably placed. It is expect ed, therefore, that the enemy will stay on the Line only as long as he dares and not long enough to risk a second El Alamein.
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Manawatu Times, Volume 68, Issue 25, 30 January 1943, Page 5
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174Small Hope of Rommel Holding Mareth Line Manawatu Times, Volume 68, Issue 25, 30 January 1943, Page 5
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