THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, MAY 14, 1943 VICTORY IN AFRICA

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24583, 14 May 1943, Page 2

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, MAY 14, 1943 VICTORY IN AFRICA

Victory in Africa is complete. No glossing, no explaining can alter the fact that the Axis forces have suffered a disastrous and overwhelming defeat. For them there has been no Dunkirk, not solely because the Allies held the sea, but because the broken armies were not able to fight their way to the shore if rescue had awaited them. It has not even been another Stalingrad, but something worse for the future of German arms. Compared with the tenacity of the struggle west of the Volga, the surrender in Tunisia has been easy. Nor can its significance be dimmed by any suggestion that Italian weakness turned the scale. The German commander, Arnim, is safe in Allied hands. Remnants of some of the most lauded units from the Reich have laid down their arms. How much of this unpalatable truth will be told the German people remains to be seen, but its significance will not be lost on the rest of the world. The Wehrmacht rode high on a legend of invincibility for a long time. Now many of its picked divisions, welded into a single Command, have been broken so thoroughly that the will to continue the fight has been destroyed. The power of Fortress Europe rests not only in the strength of its ramparts, but in the spirit of the men who man them. The walls will not fall at the blast of a trumpet nor will their guardians yield without a stern fight; but as their kind have been beaten to the point of surrender in Africa, so will they be in Europe. The African campaign, from the first shots in Somaliland to the last in Tunisia, is now history. In the last analysis, if it proves any one thing more than another, that one is the paramount importance of sea power. Berlin has been explaining the Tunisian defeat for days by emphasising the overwhelming strength the United Nations have exerted against the Axis there. If they have been able to do this, it is for the sole reason that they hold the seas, and, in spite of all the U-boat campaign could do, have been able to use the seas to build up the power exerted finally with/ such decisive effect. Berlin does not admit, though probably realises too clearly for t comfort, what is implied bv this insistence on the disparity between the forces which disputed the last African bridgehead. Every man, every gun, tank and round of ammunition the United Nations employed had to be carried over a stretch of ocean that makes the Sicilian Narrows seem like a wayside ditch. Yet in the end it was because supply across that small I but vital stretch of water was | denied the Axis that Berlin could j excuse defeat by inferiority in strength. The fact that command of 'the air finally played so great a part |in disrupting the supply line only j reinforces the argument. Denied use ;of the sea the United Nations could | never have built up their air forces 'to the point where they dominated I the sky and wrought havoc everywhere. For want of sea power the j German High Command failed to |prevent the deliverance of Dunkirk, j stopped short at the Channel when ! France had been overwhelmed, jand lost Africa. For want of sea j power the Axis is irrevocably ; doomed to lose this war. To be irre- | sistible on land and dominant in the air is not enough. Land, air and sea power are required. Not the least but perhaps the most important result of the African victory is the degree by which it has increased the freedom of the United Nations to use the seas. A glance at the map of embattled Europe shows more vividly than many words could do the length of coastline the Axis forces must watch with renewed anxiety. They do not know when, where or how the Allies may use the sea approach to their lines. But the consequences stretch far beyond Europe. To use the Mediterranean will be a simple task compared with the nightmare convoying ships to Malta and Alexandria was once. The enemy in the Far East may not be long in finding what difference that makes to his outlook ; and the effects will bo felt throughout the wide Pacific. London quotes Admiral Cunningham as estimating a saving of 2,000,000 tons of shipping by the reconquest of Africa. This added to the margin of new construction over losses is said to mean that at least 1000 more ships will be available for a new offensive. How these great assets will be employed only the Chiefs of the United Nations know. It is more than coincidence, no doubt, that as the sands were running out in Africa Mr. Churchill went to Washington, where the heads of the Services in the Far East were gathered. The air is full of portents. The outlook is infused with new hope. The expectant world is on tip-toe for the next move. This electric position is the guerdon % of victory in North Africa.