Evening star., 1942-11-20
Allies Block Every Nazi Attempt
10 Advance in Tunisian Battle;
RommeI Army Abandons Benqasi
Troops Closing In
On Foe at Tunis.
And Bizerte
By the Associated Press.

Allied headquarters announced
today that American and Brit
ish troops. locked in the first
heavy fighting in Tunisia, had
driven back every German at
tempt to thrust out from their
newly formed lines around Tunis
and Bizerte. while pro-Allied
French soldiers captured small
Nazi forces in Eastern Tunisia.
An Allied spokesman said Brit
ish and American troops were clos
ing in on all landward sides of the
big Axis-held naval strongholds Of
Bizerte and Tunis. .
Allied vanguards were reported
within 80 miles of both cities, strik-
ing from several directions.
At the same time, Adolf Hitler's
high command acknowledged that
fleeing Axis columns in Libya had
abandoned Bengasi. the last escape
port in North Africa east of Tripoh.
Allied airmen were reported ham,
mering the El Agheila area, toward
which Marshal Rommel's forces are
headed
United Nations headquarters said
Allied troops, including American
mobile artillery units, drubbed the
Axis in three sharp clashes yester-
day, destroying about one-third of
German armored column and driv-
ing two other Nazi columns into re-
treat on the Tunisian front.
French Capture Nazis.
Even as Frances Marshal Petain
appealed to Frenchmen in North
Africa to resist the Anglo-Saxon
aggression" French colonial troops
were officially reported to have
bagged a group of Nazis attempting
to push south along the Gulf OF
Gabes in Eastern Tunisia
The Allied mechanical forces gave
the Germans their first major set
back of the Tunisian campaign 80
to 40 miles from the big Bizerte
naval base after pushing at least
half way to Bizerte from the Al
gerian border.
Allied losses were described as
slight, although the Nazis used their
best medium tanks in the fight and
supported them with dive bombers.
The two-thirds of the panzer column
which still remained in action after
the clash fell back before the Allied
onsweep.
The other two Nazi columns were
repulsed in engagements to the
south.
TT appears that the Germans are
digging in about 30 miles southwest
of Bizerte and in the Tunis area and
are preparing to make their stand
there" a spokesman at the Allied
headquarters in North Africa said.
He added that although the French
situation is extremely confused, it
appears that almost all the rest of
Tunisia either is controlled by pro-
Allied French garrisons or occupied
by the Allies themselves.
German losses in yesterdays
clashes were quite heavy, but they
are pouring tn reserves and it looks
like we are in for considerable fight
ing"
Shatter Nazi Advance.
He said crack new American
mobile artillery units had combined
with the British and French to
shatter an advance German motor
lied column about 20 miles south
from the area near the coast where
the main tank clash. took place
Small German units trying to push
south along the Gulf of Gabes, in
Eastern Tunisia near the border of
Libya, were said to have been cap
tured by pro-Allied French units
which also had frustrated German
attempts to land troops by air trans
port in that area.
The French are doing exceedingly
well despite great confusion as a
result of local commanders issuing
contradictory orders to surrender to
the Germans in one case and 20
fight in the next" the spokesman
said.
Its hell of mess but most Of
the French appear to be resolved to
carry on the fight against the Axis"
In every clash, he said, the Ger
mans have been driven back in at
tempts to push their columns out
from their newly y-formed lines
around Tunis and Bizerte.
Fortresses Pound Foe.
United States Flying Fortresses,
striking without loss in daylight,
were said to have pounded Nazi air
strength and the shorefront Of
Bizerte yesterday with good results.
Allied forces now are converging
from all sides around the German
bridgeheads in the two ports, the
spokesman said
Vainly trying to halt this advance,
he said, the German air force has
been making continuous attacks on
(See MEDITERRANEAN, Pc. A-18)