NORTH AFRICA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25069, 10 November 1942, Page 2

NORTH AFRICA

FRENCH TERRITORY $ WIDE ALLIED STRATEGY The French protectorate of Morocco, where American troops have made landings, embraces the whole of the country, with the exception of the small but highly important strip in the north which is under Spanish control. This Spanish zone (states the New Zealand Herald) has an Atlantic and Mediterranean shoreline of over 500 miles and includes the port of Ceuta, opposite Gibraltar. A span of 225 square miles around Tangier was placed under international control in 1924, Consuls of the Powers signatory of the Act of Algeciras until last year forming a Committee of Control which was invested with the right of veto and other powers. The zone was permanently neutralised and demilitarised. In June, 1940, however, Spanish Khalifan troops occupied Tangier “ with the object of guaranteeing the neutrality of the zone and the city.” The Spanish Foreign Office declared at the time that the international administration would be continued and the rights of the interested Powers respected. Spain Takes Control But on November 3 the officer commanding the Spanish troops in Tangier issued a proclamation stating that, in view of the existing conditions, the Committee of Control, the Assembly,, and the Mixed Bureau of Information would cease to function and appointing himself Governor of Tangier and delegate, of the High Commissioner of Spanish Morocco. The pesta was reinstated as legal currency, and in May of last year the Spaniards assumed control of the Customs. Last December a law was published in Madrid establishing a new juridical regime for the Tangier zone, under which the laws which apply in Spanish Morocco have force in the Tangier zone.

The harbours of French Morocco are all on the Atlantic coast. The main port is Casablanca, where a long mole built in water 40 feet deep shelters deep-water basins at the quays. Other ports from the north to south are Mehediya and Port Lyautey (Kenitra), ports of the Sbu, one at, the mouth, the other on the river; Rabat, Mazagan, Safi,' and Mogador and Agadir. The most important railway runs from Casablanca through Rabat and Fez into Algeria. Others connect the port with the southern and eastern interior. At the end of 1939 French Morocco had 2800 miles of main and 2100 miles of secondary roads, 3600 miles being tarred. The occupation of northern Algeria, which has a European population of 1.000. and a native population of 5.500.000, is embraced in the Allied plan. The coastal region is well railed and roaded. A central railway runs from the frontier of Morocco to that of Tunisia and from it branches connect with the ports of Beni-Saf, Oran, Arzeu, Mostaganem, Tenes, Algiers, Dellys, Bougie, Philippeville. and Bone, as well as to centres to the south.

Normal Military Strength The present strength of the military garrison of the country is not known, but before the war it was the custom to maintain there and in Tunisia three divisions. French residents were under the same obligation to serve as in France and natives were required to serve two years with the colours and be available as reservists upon mobilisation. In Algeria is the headquarters of the Foreign Legion recruited from foreigners of any nationality but officered by Frenchmen. The frontier of Southern Algeria, a vast Saharan territory, marches with that of Libya. Between Northern Algeria and the Gulfs of Haammamet and of Qabes of the Mediterranean lies the French Protectorate of Tunisia, the south-western border of which touches Libya. The country, with Sicily, form the barrier between the eastern and western Mediterranean. This situation, to which ancient Carthage owed its greatness, together with the possession of 900 miles of coastline, gives Tunisia special strategic as well as economic and political importance. The four ports of Bizerta, Tunis, Susa, and Sfax are very well equipped. Tunisia had about 3000 miles of railways prior to the war, one line running to Qabes in the far south, but if, as is believed, considerable supplies passed through Tunisian ports itois probable that an extension further south will have been constructed. Air bases in the vast territory from the Atlantic coast of French Morocco to the eastern shore of Tunisia are:— Morocco: Mogador, Casablanca and Rabat. Marrakech. Midelt and Fez. Algeria: Oran, Sidi-bel-Abbes, Algiers. Bone and Constantine, and at ColombBechar in the far south-west. Tunisia: Bizerta, Tunis, Susa, Qairwan and Qabes. Naval bases are Casablanca, Oran, Algiers, Bone and Bizerta.