Evening star., 1943-01-17
RommeI's Race


One of the most intriguing epi-
sodes of the war has been the pro-
longed retreat of Field Marshal
Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps
across big section of North Africa.
1t is now two months and a half
since Rommel's army was routed
from its fortified lines at El Alamein,
almost within sight of Alexandria
and the Valley of the Nile. Rommel
was then in a desperate situation.
Most of his tanks and heavy artillery
were lost, while his rearward COM
munications were disrupted by con-
tinuous blasting by British and
American air power that had at
tanned absolute mastery of the skies.
Only heroic measures could save any
part of the shattered Axis forces.
Those measures were taken. Ruth
lessly abandoning his Italian allies,
Rommel fled westward with his
picked Germans packed on motor
trucks, fighting only occasional rear
guard actions with light screen of
machine gunners and mobile artil-
lery, deliberately sacrificed at few
strategic points where the pursuing
British could momentarily be held
up. More than once motorized
British units cut inland, trying to
outf1ank Rommel and bring him to
bay. But each time he slipped away.
His heavy losses were partially re-
couped by garrison and supply
troops picked up en- route, so that
his net force continued to average
between 10000 and $4,000. That was
enough to render his pursuers cir
cumspect, lest they run into a trap,
and circumspection became more
advisable as the British tended to
outrun their own supplies over rap
idly lengthening communications.
The latest phase of this intermin-
able obstacle race over a course
already more than 1000 miles long
now is shaping up at Wadi zenzem.
AS its name indicates, this is the
canyonlike course of river, dry
except for occasional cloudbursts,
which extends inland for over 100
miles and falls into the Mediter-
ranean through salt marshes just
east of the town of Misurata. This
is the last defensible position left for
Rommel east Of Tripoli. For the
past fortnight the British Eighth
Army has been concentrating
against it, and Berlin reports the
enemy massed for an attack, though
Cairo and London are as yet silent
on the alleged operation. Mean
while, far to the southwark, Fight
ing French mobile column is advanc-
ing through the desert, aiming at
Tripoli. But this force can hardly
present an immediate f1anking threat
to Rommel, since it still is some 800
miles from the coast and has bad
country to traverse.
The outcome of current operations
at Wadi ZemZem should depend on
whether the British have strength
enough to launch strong frontal
attack combined with an effective
encircling movement. The chances
are that Rommel has left merely a
strong rearguard while the bulk of
his forces move westward toward
Tunisia, evacuating supplies and
materiel from Tripoli, the main Axis
base in North Africa prior to their
recent occupa ton of the Tunis-
| BiZerte triangle. Since that devel-
opment Tripoli has ceased to have
capital Importance. Axis strategy
would seem to dictate junction be-
| tween those occupational forces and
Rommel's Afrika Korps. Once out
Of Tripolitania, Rommel might block
the further advance of the British
Eighth Army at the Mareth Line, a
strongly fortified position in depth
constructed years ago by the French
as barrier against a possible Ital-
ian invasion Of Tunisia from ada
cent Tripolitania. This Mareth Line
runs due southwark from the coast
at the Gulf of Gabes along the crest
Of the Ksour Mountains deep into
the desert. Presumably it already is
in Axis hands. 1t is likewise pro-
tected from attack from the rear
by salt marshes which extend from
the coast to the Algerian border.
| Whether Rommel will win this
logical end to his long race should
soon be evident