The Northern Advocate "NORTHLAND FIRST" Registered for transmission through the post as a Newspaper SATURDAY, APRIL 10. 1943. The War Situation Today

Northern Advocate, 10 April 1943, Page 2

The Northern Advocate "NORTHLAND FIRST" Registered for transmission through the post as a Newspaper SATURDAY, APRIL 10. 1943. The War Situation Today

GOOD news continues to come from Tunisia. The Eighth Army and the Americans having joined hands, as was reported yesterday, the pressure exerted against Rommel has been increased substantially, and there is reason to believe chat the enemy’s retreat, while anything but disorderly, is being badly dislocated by General Montgomery and the Allied forces bo-operating with him.

Rommel is being pushed steadily against the coast, and, at the same time, the terrain over which fighting is taking place has forced him to defend a front of approximately 30 miles, whereas he was previously obliged to hold a narrow position flanked by strong natural defences. This widening of his front is all to the advantage of the United Nations and to the disadvantage of the enemy.

Latest reports indicate that the Axis forces are hard pressed, and that while they will undoubtedly fight strenuously to the end, their fate is sealed. This becomes particularly obvious when it is stated that the British First Army in the northern coastal area is striking strongly and with good effect against the Germans, who have been compelled to give ground, thus further imperilling the big naval base of Bizerta and the port of Tunis. Clearly, the plans drawn up by Generals Eisenhower, Alexander and Montgomery are being executed with success. The result is the squeezing of the enemy into an ever shrinking area, which prevents him from manoeuvring, while the United Nations’ forces on the flanks, will be allowed latitude of which they will undoubtedly take the fullest advantage. The British pursuit of Rommel has now reached some 40 miles from Sfax, while the enemy admits the abandonment of an important point which they have been defending stoutly. The satisfactory result of the fighting so far achieved has been due in large measure to the great help given by the Allied air force, which is in such numbers that, in the words of one correspondent, the sky above the enemy armies has been black with fighters and bombers, the latter including Flying Fortresses. This concentration of air power, plus naval strength, suggests that if Rommel attempts a “Dunkirk” he will have no ships with which to transport his troops to the European shores of the Mediterranean. This news is decidedly gratifying, for it suggests that the time is not distant when the United Nations will have complete command of the Mediterranean. This will enable them to strike at Europe, wherever they may consider a blow can be most advantageously struck, and, vitally important, allow them to send ships through the Suez Canal instead of making the long and hazardous voyages round the Cape. What this will mean to the fighting in the Asian and Pacific theatres, apart from the Middle East, does not require emphasis. But it should be remembered that while good news is coming from Tunisia at the moment, there is much to suggest that long and strenuous fighting will be necessary before victory comes to the United Nations. The war in Europe, under the best circumstances, will not be ended without a fierce struggle, while it is clear that the overwhelming of the Japanese, though certain, will not be an easy matter. Big* hopes, for instance, have been built upon the reconquest of Burma as a means of Allied entrance to China, which would constitute an all important point from which a deadly attack might be made upon Japan at home and in the south-west Pacific, but news received during the past day or’two indicates that the Japanese have inflicted a set-back upon the Anglo-Indian forces which have been fighting in Burma for some months. This shows that though General MacArthur has made important progress in the Pacific, the Japanese remain formidable adversaries. All of which constitutes the strongest of reasons why a definite line should be drawn between confidence and complacency on the part of the United Nations.