ON THE MOVE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 65, 19 March 1943, Page 5

ON THE MOVE

FORCES IN TUN'SIA ALLIES SHUTTLE BOMB AXIS POSITIONS

(By Telegraph—Prcst? Association—Copyright) Recd. 6.30 p.m. London, March 2(.

The Gennsui news agency announced that the Eighth Army had launched an attack against the Mareth Line last night, and added that the scale of the fighting could not be judged from reports so far available, but Berlin military quarters believed this was a major attack. Heavy lighting thereiore was expected. In southern Tunisia a British thrust was made on the coastal end of the . Vireth Line at 11.30 p.m. It was followed by a lively artillery barrage, which increased until it uecame n veritable cannonade.

The Algiers correspondent of the National Broadcasting Corporation repoits that the railway has been cut

□elween Gabes and Siax at several points. The Germans are thus temporarily denied the only north-south transport line for heavy material. The road alongside the railway has been damaged and will take several days to repair.

Agency reports stated that Americans moving on Gal’sa were only three mil *5 north of the town, where they spiuacted enemy tanks. Later the German news agency stated that the Eignth Array attack was possibly the initial phase of a large-scale offensive Only part oi General Montgomery’s artillery was in action on the night of March 16, when the attackers presumably aimed to obtain full information concerning the lighting strength and grouping o;

the Italian and German tank army The Italians and Germans, generally speaking, were able to hold their positions, but it could be assumed that the British attack would coninue and crease in strength. Berlin radio declared a considerable part of the Eighth Army on the night of March 16 attacked advanced Mareth Line positions on a broad front after considerable artillery preparation, but claimed that the Italians and Germans held the advanced line and inflicted losses in a heavy battle.

The Associated Press correspondent ir. Algiers says that Allied air forces are shuttle-bombing the Mareth Line, where Axis strongpoints have been shaken by tons of explosives. Both sides havo intensified their artillery activity.

FOR FRENCH UNITY

TWO LEADERS TO MEET Recd. 6 p.m. London, March 17. / General Giraud’s speech and offer to collaborate with General de Gaulle has given wide satisfaction. It is expected and hoped that a meeting between the two generals will eventuate, although at the moment nobody is apparently willing to forecast when it will be.

The Daily Telegraph commenting says: “There is a definite prospect that the long-drawn out preliminaries to an effective union between all Frenchmen fighting the Axis outside Europe are coming to a satisfactory close. In fairness to General Giraud it must be pointed out that the duration of these preliminaries was inherent in the situation he found in North Africa. The paper adds that perhaps the long interval between the meet.cig at Casablanca and the meeting now in prospect has not been wholly wasted, for the slate on which the two generals are able to write is cleaner. The main difficulty in arranging the meeting between Generals Giraud and de Gaulle so far had been that General de Gaulle hitherto ■coupled with such plans a demand that certain questions of principle should be settled first. General Giraud has already carried out or has announced reforms which go far to meeting Fighting French demands.

JAP MERCHANT LOSSES

ONE-THIRD OF TONNAGE Recd. 6 p.m. Rugby, March 17. Japanese merchant fleet losses are estimated at 1 857,000 tons, or about a-third of the entire tonnage, according to the American Secretary of tire Navy, Colonel F. Knox, New York. He stated that from now on the Axis would be on the defensive. Referring to the post-war era, Colonel Knox said:— "I suspect Mr. Roosevelt's flying voyage to Casablanca was a token act which sealed the inescapable participation of America Li world affairs.” Colonel Knox referred to Japanese shipping and said that at the beginning of the war it was estimated that Japan's merchant tonnage totalled 6,369,090 tons, and perhaps half her

estimated losses (1,857,000 tons) have been replaced by the seizure of foreign vessels in Asiatic waters, new building, and salvage, but the total tonnage available to Japan to-day was probably 14 per cent, less than that with which Japan set out to establish her grandiose "Greater East Asia co-prosperlty sphere.” "We,” he said, “have just begun to fight. More warships, more planes, and more submarines are going out to join the hunt and it is no secret I hat our purpose is to destroy the Japanese Navy. No one in the Navy Department believes we have reached a secure position of affairs. "In the Atlantic we are confronted with a menace of formidable proportions. We have vast, areas of the world to conquer-but thanks to the mighty exertions of Russia, Britain. China, and our country, we have reached a point where the conduct of this struggle will be of our own choosing. The initiative is ours.”

Referring to the future. Colonel Knox paid a tribute to "I he English men and women who did not know when they were whipped, whose great will kept their chins up until they

could harness their industry and ferrg new weapons Io protect themselves. -8.0.W.