GERMANS TIRING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25304, 14 August 1943, Page 5

GERMANS TIRING

LONDON, Aug. 12,

The situation is every day becoming more like. that ’in Tunisia before the final break-through 'to Tunis and Bizerta; says Reuter’s correspondent at Allied headquarters, in a special battle report received to-day. He stated that the German troops are tiring, but their lines are unbroken, in spite of constant yielding before overwhelming Allied pressure. All reports from Sicily agree that the Germans are showing signs of fatigue and. enduring supply shortages. For over a month they have been battling with little or no chance of relief. The Allies, on the contrary, with their unquestionable superiority in numbers, have been able to replace troops who were tired out in the initial battles. The Germans are thus constantly meeting fresh forces. The correspondent adds that thousands are escaping every day. Eighty vessels are shuttling to and from the Italian mainland with men and equipment under a colossal anti-aircraft oarrage from heavy and light guns. The German movement is not a mass evacuation, but has been steadily built up in the past few days. The Germans are using the beaches on the north coast -of Sicily for embarkation. The heavy anti-aircraft fire makes accurate air attack difficult.

Reuter’s correspondent with the Eighth Army says the Allies estimate that about 1000 Germans are escaping every day. They are using scattered points as embarkation centres. Many surface craft are being used for the evacuation, going to scattered points on the toe of Italy to avoid making a congested target for attack from the air..

No German is allowed to leave Sicily without his equipment, and on the mainland, stores, equipment, and men are being scattered as widely as possible.

Two escape routes are being used, one across the narrow two-mile Messina Straits, under the umbrella of A.A. guns, and the other, which is longer, from scattered beaches. Our Air Force is doing its utmost to interfere with this evacuation. The German forces have taken terrible punishment, and only the mountainous nature of the country has saved them from complete annihilation.