TANK SUPPORT

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24540, 24 March 1943, Page 3

TANK SUPPORT

POWERFUL DIVISIONS STILL PROGRESSING THREATS TO ROMMEL Operations in Southern Tunisia are still progressing favourably and according to plan, says the Morocco radio. The Eighth Army is attacking with infantry supported by powerful tank divisions, while light mobile detachments moving in from the south-west are executing outflanking movements'on the hillsides. Bright sunshine and a steady breeze are drying up the roads and easing the path for the American armoured vehicles driving toward the Mediterranean. German military officials in Berlin say that the Axis forces occupy favourable defensive positions in Tunisia, with assured supply lines, and that they have made all preparations for defence. The jSew York Times' correspondent in Tunisia says now that the grandiose proportions of the Allied offensivo plans have been revealed it is clear that Rommel's forces are in considerable danger. General Patton's Americans driving east toward the sea represent a formidable threat to his immediate supply area and main lines of communication to the north. This threat is equalled by General Montgomery's forward surge. So far the Americans have encountered only Italians, stiffened by a few German artillery batteries. The Germans are providing most of the air support, but this shows signs of decreasing as the Allied attacks on Axis aerodromes increase in number and intensity. Furthermore, the peak of the Allied air offensive in this theatre has not yet been reached. On the whole, the tactical situation in the south is cause for reasoned optimism.