Evening star., 1942-11-13
AEF> Racing Rommel to Tripo|i>
Is Due to Reach Tunisia Today;
Tobruk Re-Occupied by British
Nogues Reported
Joining DorIon
And Allies
By the Associated Press.

LONDON, Nov. ia power
full striking force of 1t. Gen.
Dwight D. Eisenhower's COM
bined British-American Army
swept toward Tunisia today in
strength which suggested that it
might break on through and beat
Field Marshal Rommel to Tripoli,
the last major port Of escape left
after his headlong flight west of
Tobruk.
There were many indications that
this time the Axis was too late with
too little in its effort to grab off
Tunisia-and was well aware of it.
A British announcement that Raj
fighters had shot down six big
Italian troop-carrying planes filled
with German troops and flying
north, probably from Tunisia," indi-
Gated that the Nazis might be
hastily pulling out the garrisons
they had rushed to that French
protectorate.
Due to Cross Border Today.
Bright with prospects of continued
Allied successes, this w@ the pat
tern of developments:
/, American assault troops lead
ing the new British 1st Army were
expected to cross the Tunisian from
tier today, coming within 400 airline
miles of the great Libyan port OF
Tripoli, with little prospect OF any
resistance in Tunisia that they can
not handle.
2. Racing for safety, Marshal
Rommel abandoned the historic
siege port of Tobruk to the British
this morning, too hard-pressed TO
put up a. fight. with fully 600 airline
miles of desert trail between him
and Tripoli.
3. French North Africa was ad-
justing quickly to its new role as a
vast American-Britisn offensive
base. and the German-controlled
Vichy radio said Gen. Auguste NO.
CUES. former French commissioner
general of Morocco, had Joined Ad-
miral Jean Darlan in allied councils
at AEF- OCCUPIED Algiers.
4. An Allied spokesman declared
here that considerable numbers OF
the German 1910 armistice commits
sion in North Africa had been cap
tured by the United States forces
and presumably were considered
prisoners of war.
SHUTS Forecasts Great 1943.
5. Field Marshal Jan Christian
SHUTS, premier of the Union OF
South Africa, declared that the
spectacular British American cam
paign made possible a great Allied
offensive year in 1943 which might
end the war in 1914.
An Allied spokesman said pre-
liminary and partial reports showed
that United States casualties in the
North African operation have been
extremely light
Observers here estimated that an
American assault force which land
ed Yesterday at Bone, so miles west
of the Tunisian border, should cross
that frontier easily today, leading
the way for 1t Gen. K. A. N. Ander-
sons British 1st Army.
The Berlin radio broadcast a
Vichy communlque which said
United States planes had bombed
the Tunis airport. The Vichy radio
said Tunis had alarms last night
from 8:15 to 1890 pm. and this
morning from to am. and from
6:1O to 6:45 am.
Axis radio broadcasts said both
Marshal Petain and Pierre Laval
had indicated an intention to re-
main in office and continue Vlchy's
collaboration policy. A dispatch to
the Basler Arbeiter zeitung, SWISS
newspaper said the Havas (French)
News Agency had been taken over
bv the German service, DNB.
French Gen. Henri Honore Glraud,
who helped to swing Algeria and
Morocco into the Allied camp, was
denounced in a Vichy communlque
which declared he should not be
obeyed "by troops or officials or the
general population"
Marshal Petain's ministerial
council said Gen. Giraud mad
"treacherously violated his official
duties and besmirched his honor !;
that Marshal Petain alone was to
give the orders now.
The Allies played trump IN their
bid for possession of the Toulon-
(See AFRICA, Page A-2D