Evening star., 1942-11-05
Second Round in Eoypt

seen such startling reverSals of for
tune during more than two years
that premature rejoicings are not in
order. Still, the cumulative British
successes of the past three days
would seem to indicate that genu-
Inc victory is in the making. After
more than week of methodical
mopping up of mine fields and blast
ing OF fortified lines by intense ar
tillery barrages, the Imperial Eighth
Army launched a general attack on
the whole Axis front stretching
nearly 40 miles from the Mediter-
ranean to the Qattara Depression.
The entire position was penetrated,
and at the northern end a clean
break-through was made, incident
ally pocketing sizable force of
German and Italian infantry on the
coast.
To meet this deadly thrust, Mar
shall Rommel threw in his carefully
husbanded armored divisions. The
British promptly accepted the chal-
lenge, and tremendous tank battle
ensued some miles from the coast,
centering about low height with
the picturesque name of the Hill of
Wicked Men. Perhaps the deciding
factor was the umbrella of Allied
planes which controlled the skies
above the battlefield and mercilessly
bombed Rommels mechanical con-
centrations. At any rate, the Axis
tanks ultimately broke off the en-
gagement, retiring behind protec-
tive screen of heavy artillery and
anti-tank guns. The Imperial in
fantry surged on in masses, consoli-
dating the ground gained and threat
ening to roll up the southern sectors
of the Axis positions, already badly
shaken by bombardment and frontal
infantry attacks. Latest adviceS
from Cairo indicate that Rommel's
army is in general retreat, hammered
necessarily from the air and har-
ried unrelentingly by the pursuing
ground forces. Rommel is certainly
abandoning the whole network of
prepared positions he had built up
during recent months.
Unless the willy marshal has a sec
ondary defense line far back In his
rear, he is now in tight spot. Moth
ing is harder than to extricate an
army, once lose-fought action has
been fully engaged. The chief ele-
ment in his favor is that 1t will be
impossible for the British to outhank
and envelop him, so long as his re-
treat has not carried beyond the
funnel between the sea and the Qat-
tara Depression. The funnel-shaped
neck of hard-surfaced desert extends
backward for fully 100 miles. We
may expect that Rommel, "The
Desert Fox" will use every trick in
his bag. He may even sacrifice the
bulk of his infantry, as he did dur
ing the British drive of a year ago
which brought him within an ace Of
destruction. At that time Rommel
made a lightning withdrawal of sew
eral hundred miles with his armored
divisions and motorized detachments,
hiding behind the wide strip of desert
which sunders Eastern Libya from
his western base at Tripoli and build
ing up his strength for an equally
lightning thrust last summer that
carried him almost to Alexandria.
The lesson of all this is that, in
North Africa, territory counts for
little. 1t is men and equipment that
matter. No tactical victory, however
glorious, will be decisive unless either
= the British reach Tripoli and expel
the Axis wholly from North Africa
or Rommel conquers Egypt and the
:Suez Canal. General Montgomery has
won brilliant second round in this
titanic match. To continue the box
Ing simile, he seems to have Rommel
groggy and backing away from the
punches. But the knockout blow is
still to be administered.