Evening star., 1942-11-11

ican troops into Oran yesterday.
These were the three chief centers
of resistance in Algiers and Morocco.
It was not known whether any
British or American forces had yet
succeeded in reaching Tunisia, said
the Allied spokesman who an
nounced the arrival Of German
forces there.
Nazis on Move for Some Time.
He said the German movement
had "been going on for some little
time" but that the Nazi strength
there was not known.
There was still no official informa-
ton here as to the movements Of
the French fleet. But the major
part was believed still based at Tou-
lon, toward which Adolf Hitler's
troops were striking in Vichy,
France, today.
It was announced that 1t. Gen.
Kan Anderson is commanding Brit
ish troops, the vanguard of the sew
eral divisions sent to North Africa
to reinforce the Americans, and that
Air Marshal Sir William Welsh is
commanding the Raj in that area.
French naval forces which had
comprised the backbone of resist
ance at Casablanca were practically
wiped out before the commander
there sought an armiStice, and Brit
ish observers believed an armistice
for the entire area of Morocco and
Algeria would follow speedily.
Hitler's move into Tunisia, aimed
as a counterstroke to 1t. Gen.
Dwight D. Eisenhower's American
and British North African occupa-
tions, placed the Germans In mo-
mentary command of the narrowest
point of the Mediterranean. A large
Gearman- Italian air center Is at
Sicily.
The landing also drove q thin
wedge between Gen. Eisenhower and
Marshal Erwin Rommel's defeated
Axis army in Libya.
Fighting Frenchmen also were
optimistic.
"It is felt that resistance may well
collapse altogether at q much earlier
stage than was at first thought pos
sible," Fighting French spokes-
man said.
French Battleship Afire.
Overnight reports indicated
steady expansion of the holdings OF
Gen. Eisenhower forces.
French light naval units which
attempted to interfere with Amer
ican seizure of the Oran naval base
were destroyed by a supporting
British naval squadron, British
correspondent wrote from the field.
The Allied command announced
that the American naval-air forces
had overcome to a large degree the
resistance of French naval units
along the coast in the Casablanca
area"
The IS, ,OO0-to battleship Jean Bart,
bomb b-battered center of this resist
ance, was reported aflame off the
harbor and supporting light forces
of the Vichy fleet were wiped out.
This maritime effort directed by
United States Rear Admiral H. K.
Hewitt was correlated with infiltra-
ton of Casablanca' S eastern suburbs
by the tank-supported troops COM
manded by Maj. Gen. George S.
Patton, jr.
Field dispatches from Algeria told
of the capture of 800 prisoners with
out resistance by an armored column
which struck at an airdrome Sum-
day.
Four French Dewoitine planes
lowering high over the field swooped
to attack and downed one United
States fighter, but three OF them
were shot down. The field was taken
| over by the United States Spitfire
squadrons Of the 18th Air Force,
commanded by Brig. Gen. James H
Doolittle.
French civilians and Arabs alike
were described as friendly. American
troops shared their cigarettes
American contingents evidently
were we'll on their way toward Libya,
the last territory of Italy's African
empire. Vichy and Berlin accounts
of continuing operations in Algeria
were without immediate confirma-
ton.
These included reports of fighting
at Orleansville, midway between
Oran and Algiers, and at Blida, Is
miles inland from the Capital; an
nouncement of an American drive
on Bou Saada, deep in the desert
120 miles southeast of Algiers and
about 400 miles from the Libyan-
Tunisia frontier.