Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-05-12

10000 prisoners of whom only 5000
or so were Italians.
The German crackup along the
main west road has been so sud-
denly complete that the greatest
hazard have encountered was from
! an Allied fighter bomber raid at
2:30 pm. which set the hilly brush
aflre half-mile from where I was
hastily lunching on German sauer-
kraut and brown bread
Bombs and machine-gun bullets
flushed few hundred tardy pris-
oners from the hills, but they were
not enjoyed by the British motorized
infantry and myself.
Risky Business.
When the front is advancing at a
rate of five miles per hour it is
risky for distant army liaison Off
GERS to fix the bombline for the air
force.
dispatches from Allied head
quarters today said bombing op-
eratlons against the peninsula
have been halted.)
Armored cars of royal tank regi-
ment, forming a reconnaissance unit
Tor the British 4th Division. split in
two at the crossroads at the base of
the Lighthouse Hill. some cleaning
up at Ell Oouaria and others
speeding down the east coast in the
direction of Kelibia.
Great blazes sprang up in Ell
Aouaria from munition fuel dumps
lgnited by Nazis as British scouts
approached Exploding shells flashed
Ike sprays Of fireworks. Three
wrecked Junkers So transports
were left untouched on an emer-
gency landing field, however.
There is no trace of an evacua-
| ton; l have been down to the sea
on both sides of the cape and all I
saw was one rowboat-full of ma
tives," an armored car commander
declared. Hitler must have wiped
out this business as complete loss"
Standing at the crossroads with
Tommies gleefully loaded down with
enemy pistols. binoculars and other
! expensive military gear, you meet
face to face the big parade of de-
/ feat.
No Escorting Guards.
All the enemy cars converging
here fly the white flag and troops
aboard hold out white handker-
| chiefs and undershirts to make sure
the handful of British recognize
their intentions
German colonies drive up in their
own "volkswagens" or American
jeeps captured long ago. They turn
in their Luger automatics to a squat,
grinnlng British private who waves
them on along the dusty route to
Tunis with his bayoneted rife
German half-tracks and trucks
are crammed with junior officers
and men. There is not a single
escorting guard in sight.
Just before one truck reaches the
crossroads German in the drivers
seat decides to play safe. He losses
two potato masher grenades out into
a ploWed field
Ar Italian colonel tramps with a
gold-braided retinue to the junction
and inquiries sadly where he shall
go, and then begs a passing German
half-track for a lift
All. Tunis," said he, Il only left
1t four days ago and now I must 20
back"
The Germans forage the fields
among some of their damaged We
hicles in hopes that one or two NAV
be repaired quickly and save them
from hiking perhaps so miles. They
sabotaged considerable number of
cars before they were trapped. and
now they obviously regret their
zealousness for the Fatherland.
Skylark Attitude.
These German troops going
toward military prisons have almost
a skylark attitude. Many men with
many war decorations are among
them. The Iron Cross for Russian
front service and the Pour lie Merite
are the easiest to spot because they
are so common.
They carry pet dogs and &C
cordions and have pockets bullying
| with cigars, cigarettes, biscuits and
candy.
When you see nearly 10000 Ger
mans throw up their hands at a
glimpse of a few armored cars
though they had guns and acres of
ammunition dumps, you know the
Germans morale can and will be
cracked.
DR.. Goebbels presumably will in
vent his own version of the sur
render at the cape. But it will be
hard for him to compare it to-
Stalingrad-as captivating German
divisions themselves testify.
No ignominy the Poles suffered in
! 1889 or the French in 1910 sur
passes the spectacle of able bodied
veteran German soldiers driving
hundreds of German vehicles to
captivity.
And not Britisher visible around
for miles.
The folloUing battle front dis
patch t1aS ,Dritten May 10 at
Soitmdn, TuniSid:.
The battle of annihilstion on Cap
Bon Peninsula is like a foxhunt-
with the hunters riding steel horses.
Olve groves where the vicious
cough OF hidden machinegun sud-
denly breaks the silence and across
the greenish gold fields of ripening
wheat where burning armored cars
send up columns of black smoke, the
chase goes on pen nell.
For British lighting men, it is a