Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-11-20

| ground clash was IN the region be.
tween the port Of La Gale, In East.
ern Algeria, and the Tunisian rail.
head of Tabarka, 20 miles to the
east
The Morocco radio said Allied pa
trolls destroyed of 80 German tanks
engaged in North Tunisia Tuesday;
that 3 Nazi tanks were knocked
out in another encounter which led
to a German rout and that para
chutists last night wrecked 6 enemy
armored vehicles and took several
prisoners.
"A few British anti-tank guns and
heavy guns" were reported to have
been put out of action in the fighting
Tuesday
A communique from 1t Gen
Dwight D. Eisenhower headquar-
tiers said there is nothing new to
report" from this western arm OF
the three-way pincer closing on the
last Axis strongholds in North
Africa.
Warning by Franco.
Informed European diplomatic
sources said Generalissimo Francisco
Franco had informed both the Axis
and the United Nations that Spain
lying between British Gibraltar
and German-occupied France
would accept aid Immediately from
the other side If either seized any
of her sea and air bases. Backed by
a majority of his army generals,
Franco was reported sitting tight
on a policy OF neutrality.
The Berlin radio, for some propa-
ganda purpose of its own, said the
reserve of official German quarters
in commenting on the North African
situation was regarded by some OBJ
servers as an indication that sur
prise was in the air. Its nature
was not even limited
Hungarians OFF for Greece.
Reuters reported from Ankara,
however, that 10 Hungarian divi-
sions had left home barracks for
Greece and 10 German divisions
were moving from the Russian front
toward the Balkans in a general
strengthening of the Axis positions
on that southeastern flank.
Overnight reports were lacking on
the progress of the Allied force pre-
viously reported striking northward
toward the Mediterranean from the
Fighting French bases at Lake Chad,
French Equatorial Africa.
Press dispatches and the unofd-
cial broadcasts of the Morocco radio
built up the picture of Allied progress
in Tunisia.
French troops of the Oran Divis-
ion, in full battle gear, moved east
by train as part of Gen. Henri
Honore Giraud's command to join
the Americans and the British in
the fight for Tunisia.
The average American soldiers
reaction to the entraining of these
helmeted rif1emen was expressed by
Sergt Stanley Karas of Newark, N.
j.. one among the occupational
forces they were fighting last week.
Now we can quit fooling around
the sergeant said.
Sporadic Revolts.
The Morocco radio said sporadic
revolts among the French garrisons
of Tunisia against inflltrations by
German and Italian forces famed
into a general offensive at dawn
yesterday as Gen. Barre, comman-
der of the protectorate, got the jump
on German Gen. Walther Nehring,
who had ordered him to withdraw
from Tunisia or join the Axis.
Despite resistance, however, the
Germans were reported to have cap
tured the town hall and barracks of
Gabes, landing several light tanks
and 200 air-borne infantrymen at
that strategic port 200 miles south Of
Tunis and 200 miles west of Tripoli.
Gabes is near the top of the Mareth
Notifications. a little Maginot Line
west of the Libyan frontier.
The Germans also moved a few
heavy tanks ashore at Bizerte, it was
said, to back up 12-tonners previ-
ously brought in by the first of the
invasion parties.