RAPID RETREAT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25101, 17 December 1942, Page 5

RAPID RETREAT

ROMMEL’S FORCES HARRIED EFFORTS TO IMPEDE ALLIES

(United Press Association) (By Electric Telegraph-Copyright)

(Rec. 1.30 a.m.) LONDON, Dec. 16. To-day’s news from Egypt indicates that the retreating Afrika Korps has fallen back about 100 miles west of El Agheila. The Cairo communique states that our leading forces, though greatly impeded by mines, are continuing to harass the enemy as he falls back. Air activity bjr our fighter-bombers was maintained, and the enemy vehicles on the roads again made good targets. The pilots report that a great column of traffic is moving westward. A correspondent in the desert issues a warning against the idea that the Eighth Army is going forward at ci great pace. “ Rommel is laying more mines than ever before in this battle,” he says. “He cannot stop us, but he is fighting desperately to gain time by sowing mines and throwing out well-armed rearguards.” In its home broadcasts the Berlin radio has still not admitted Rommel’s retreat from El Agheila, though it has referred vaguely to the supply difficulties with which General Montgomery will be faced in the waterless Sirte Desert. The German News Agency, commenting on the silence of the High Command, said: “Developments are coming which may be unpleasant for the Bi'itish. What is happening in the El Agheila positions is an operation on Axis initiative, the end of which has not yet been revealed. Unless we are much mistaken, the. operations of the Afrika Korps are based on the assumption that not only is it receiving reinforcements, but is concentrating its forces.” An Italian communique reports that 200 civilians were killed and several hundred wounded in a violent air raid on Tunis and Susa yesterday. • •

The Daily Mail, in a leading article, says: “The enemy hopes to keep our hands full with the North African campaign until the spring, and it' must be our business to see that he fails. General Alexander will endeavour to break up the Afrika Korps on the long journey to Tunis for it is Rommel’s army that he is after, not desert villages. The situation is different in Tunisia, where the Axis stand is firm. It can be little else, for the sea is behind them, our good airfields are far off in Algeria, and we cannot hope for air supremacy to drive the enemy into the sea until new ones have been constructed. While the enemy clings to Tunisia he is protecting the vulnerable belly of the Axis and is able to strengthen his European defences. Every month we are tied down in this area is time won for the Axis. We are confident that this fact is recognised by responsible quarters.”

The Daily Express correspondent with the First Army says: “ The Luftwaffe, anxious to conserve its strength, is playing hide and seek against our fighters, which almost every day return from sweeps over enemy-held territory without an encounter. There is no question of cowardice or weakness; they are just being wily. One explanation is their high losses in combat with our fighters—sometimes eight to one. The Germans also know that we are preparing for a heavy blow against Bizerta.”