Evening star., 1943-05-08

the very center of the German front.
They had reduced the problem of
the struggle for Tunisia to the ques-
ton of how many men the enemy
could evacuate.
Troops Engage in Race.
Eighth and 1st Army units raced
to see which could have the honor
Of first entering the capital and
capturing the city hall
This race TO Tunls became in
fectious and twice today, three Aus
tralian correspondents and myself
got beyond our tank screen. Be-
cause they were so busy with armor
attacking their flanks. the German
gunners had no time to spare to
shoot us up as we skirted afoot
near the main Tunis- -Medjez-El-
Bah road.
In two neighboring settlements of
st. Cyprlen and La Mornaghia,
French inhabitants gave us a touch
ing welcome. A little old lady in q
shawl ran out crying and pressed
my hand in hers. Her son, she said,
had been serving in the French
Army in North Africa and she was
hungry for sight OF him.
A blond young woman with a
baby cinging shyly to her skirt
said she was awaiting her husband
who went to Algiers six months ago
to fight for the Allies. An entire
French family in La Mornaghia was
busy bringing glasses of red wine
to the crews of passing army vehi-
cles.
Victory for All.
A grizzled father said: THE
French, English and Americans
they are all one. To our victory!"
The village priest was bicycling
to the house where young civilians
arm had been blown off at the elbow
by a bomb dropped in a raid yes
terday.
The priest said, ITO us French an
Allied victory is our victory"
We had lunch In winery build
ing near La Mornaghia which was
actually in the front line. After
we had eaten bully beef and hard
tack for 20 minutes, the fight had
rolled back 2 miles
Climbing the brow of a low hill
in a track through a grain field, we
met the most incongurous sight of
the day: A young French farm
supervisor, his pretty wife and two
daughters driving 16 pigs to a pas
ture.
They were quite undisturbed by
British shells whistling overhead.
Yesterday afternoon German
troops who had been using this farm
packed up, saluted and departed" !"
the Frenchman said.
There are some Italian civilians
In this neighborhood, but they keep
out OF sight for a while. When
things went well they used to strut
IKE the Germans. Now things are
going badly and they plead that
they have always been our friends"
Slight Bomb Damage.
Driving to the mouth of Medjerda
Valley past series of villages which
were near enemy targets that had
been swamped by attacks of hun
dred of Allied bombers, it was diff
hcult to see any bomb damage to
private property.
Furna and Massiro,,1t ora ,,,,.4
unscathed. La Mornaghia bore only
a few scars. It is obvious that the
air blows were directed against en-
emy concentrations outside these
settlements, such as TRANSPORTS
massed In olive groves and grain
fields.
The smashing British victory was
achieved at extraordinarily slight
cost. All the dead saw today were
Germans, and even these were rel
at1vely few in number.
| The Germans retreated so fast
they were unable to mine sideroads,
and the main highway to Tunis was
mined only in patches.
Since daybreak I have been with
the vanguard of the British push
and have seen not a single German
plane.
Until the rainstorm brewed up in
late afternoon our bombers and
fighters were overhead almost con-
stantly.
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