Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-02-08
Germans Said to Have
'Hord' Troops in Africa
Military Writer Believes
Soldiers of United Motions
Relatively Less Experienced
By Maj. George Fielding Eliot.

By Maj. George Fielding Eliot.
In Tunisia, the Germans are depend
ing very largely on experience and
training to Offset a growing inferiority
in numbers. Their air-borne supply
lines cannot by themselves either pro-
vide reinforcements and munitions for
large army, or carry over the sea
that separates Africa from Europe such
items as large tanks, heavy guns, or
the vast weights of artillery ammuni-
ton required for modern full-scale
combat.
AS the weather gradually clears, re-
storing the normal good visibility of
Mediterranean skies, it will be increas-
surface ships across. They have, there.
fore. put their trust in quality.
In the north, Col. Gen. Won Arnim is
reported to have two of Germany's
best armored divisions, and one crack
infantry division. He also has, of course,
anti-aircraft and coast artillery units,
air-force elements and perhaps a GER
tain number of Italians for garrison
duty. In the south, Marshal Erwin
Rommel has the remains of four German
divisions-two armored divisions, one
motorized infantry division and one
light infantry division.
To what extent it has been possible
to reconstitute and re-equip these
units, it is impossible to say. Rommel
to1t
tough residue of the II italian divisions
which were once under his command.
Those who are still with him and still
fighting are likely to be good soldiers.
The line of communications between
these two forces is the coastal road
and the parallel narrow-gauge railway
from Tunis southwark through Sousse
and Sfax to Gabes. These lines run
through narrow coastal zone, along
the whole west face of which the Allied
forces are exerting pressure.
In the north Won Arnm's anchor
positions at Bizerte and Tunisia are
covered by semi-circle of hills. closely
besieged by the Allies. In the south,
Rommel Is being harried and pressed
by the British 9th Army Yet so far
there has been no sign of giving way
anywhere in this region-the Germans
hold fast to the positions they need to
hold to avoid disaster. and even gain
ground in local operations.
The reason is not hard to find. In
the north and center, the Germans
have to deal with: % the British lst
Army. whose officers and men have
spent most of the war training in Eng
land, save for those who saw a brief
month or so of action during the battle
OF France. They are very far from
being seasoned soldiers. 60 The Amer
lean 5th Army. even less experienced,
and on the whole less we'll trained. To
both OF these forces. the climate and
conditions OF African warfare are abso-
lutely new. 90 The French Army of
Africa, used to African conditions but
badly armed and equipped, and suffer-
Ing from the depressing regime under
which they have lived since the fall
Of France.
Against these forces the Germans
have deployed a smaller but magnifi-
Gently equipped army OF veteran SOL
olery, who have served, most OF them,
In Poland, France. Norway, Russia and
the Balkans, against all sorts of enemies
and under all sorts of conditions.
IN warfare, experience counts for a
great deal. Our men and the British
nave many lessons to learn. And the
price OF such lessons is high one not
only IN material and in time, but in
blood
We are learning, but in the meanwhile
those Of us who remain at home must
remember that our own neglect in the
past is largely the reason why today
our young men have to pay so high
price IN order to learn the trade of war
from the enemy. Far from blaming
them for not getting on faster with
the task we have set them, we should
Diane ourselves for not having had
ready more Of them to send. better
trained and prepared for the grim ordeal
of battle.
In the south, meanwhile, the one
really seasoned and veteran ground
force which the Allies can bring To
pear IN this theater. the British Eighth
Army, Is as yet unable to throw its full
weight against the enemy. There are
two reasons-one is supply, the other is
terrain.
In order for the 9Th Army to fight
at full effectiveness in Southern Tunisia
the supplies it used up in its long trek
across the desert must be replaced, it's
ranks filled, its depots established for a
new drive. This means that the port
OF Iripoli must be refitted for Allied
use, provided with adequate defenses
against air attack and converted into a
great advance base complete in all things
necessary for that purpose.
Then the ships can come in from Egvpt
with their cargoes of munitions, and the
9th Army can begin to roll But it
must break its way through the formid-
able defenses OF the Mareth line and
through the narrow Gap of Gabes" be-
tween the salt marshes and the sea.
lts ability to do this, against any oppo-
sition which the Germans now in Tunisia
can hope to offer, can hardly be doubted.
but 1t will take time.