SETBACK IN TUNISIA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 42, 20 February 1943, Page 5

SETBACK IN TUNISIA

WITHDRAWAL BY AMERICANS ROMMEL AND EIGHTH ARMY (By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright) (Reed. 9 p.m.) London. Feb. 19. Detailed reports of the Axis action in Tunisia resulting in the capture of Sbeitla, Kassarine and Feriana dwell on the severe reverse the American armoured units have suffered. The Associated Press of America correspondent in Algiers describes it as a crushing defeat and adds that reports indicate that Rommel’s forces have captured considerable American equipment, including General Sherman tanks. Reuter’s correspondent in Tunisia says the Americans during the third day of the attack were forced to withdraw because of a thrust coming up behind them north of the Said-Sbeitla road. The Americans have withdrawn to the mountains below Tebessa. The famous 21st Panzer Division participated in the Axis thrust, supported by the 10th Panzer Division from von Arnim's forces. The ridge of hills to which the Americans have fallen back between Feriana and Tebessa to regroup are defensible. The lighting has slackened for the moment, but the Germans are likely to move across the Ousseltia Valley in an attempt to control the western ridge, thereby straightening their line along a series of ridges.

The Associated Press • correspondent says a general feeling in Algiers is that the Germans for the moment have gone as far as they desire, and that the Allies are expected to withdraw in the centre in order to straighten their defence line.

Reports from the fighting zone indicate that the German attack destroyed so much American armoured strength that a successful counterattack in the near future is unlikely. Another report says that about onethird of the Americans' casualties were at Sidi Bousid. Casualties were heavy on both sides, and one combat group destroyed 20 enemy tanks in the first day’s operations. The New York Herald-Tribune’s correspondent. William White, on the Tunisian front, says: “Rommel’s blitzkrieg throws a spanner in the Allied plans by seizing the initiative and placing the Allies on the defensive, thus irreparably damaging the plans for a southern front in Tunisia and forcing the Allies to pin their hopes on the Eighth Army. The German move is especially disconcerting, because the Allies knew it was coming for some time but were unable to prevent it. Most critics blame the inability to hold hard-won positions on the lack of Infantry.” The Herald-Tribune, in an editorial, noints out: “Rommel caught our forces with the oldest device in warfare—dividing and defeating the enemy in detail. The Germans crippled the air operations and smashed up armour, thereby forestalling a counter-attack. Furthermore, they freed themselves from a threat to the rear of the Mareth nosition. Rommel can now concentrate on stemming the Eighth Army's advance from the south.

A communique Issued at French headquarters in North Africa states: “French forces yesterday repelled, with heavy losses, an enemy tanksupnorted infantry attack westward of Hadjeb el Aio'un (in the northeastern sector, 15 miles south-west of Pichon). We proceeded to take up new positions in the mountain region without pressure from the enemy. The New York Herald-Tribune says that General Giraud’s military mission to the United States is recruiting Frenchmen for training at Fort Neening, Georgia, as officers and technicians for the French Army in North Africa, and is also accepting naval air force volunteers. It Is the first French force raised in America in the present war.