The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-01-15
Germans Fear Big
 Allied Drive Nears
toontinued from Page D

concentrations, airdromes and enc campments.
 Germany offered an admittedly strong challenge over the battle area and eight German fighter planes were shot down in dog fights and many more damaged, the commu. niuue said. It was adt that in all Allied operations repo. cd, iS Brit ish fighter pilots were missing but 1t was believed some would turn up after forced landings.
 Germany, preparing It's people for more bad news from Africa, said Montgomery was about to throw 10 divisions (l60000 men) against the Axis forces.
 "A new attack by Montgomery (Lieut. Gen. Bernard L. M0ntgom. ery) Is expected within the next few days" German oftic!al news agency dispatch broadcast by radio Berlin said.
 The dispatch admitted that Mar shal Erwin Rommel, commanding the Afrika Korps, was paying at- tention" to the northward drive Of Free French forces from the interior Lake Chad region which already had completely occupied Fezgan. If the Germans were telling the truth, Montgomery had deployed practically the entire strength o: the Eighth Army when it routed the Afrika Korps at Fl Alamein, around Axis positions at Wadi zem Fem, l65 miles southeast of Tripoli. The shoddy, shaken Afrika Korps cer- tainly possessed no such strength.
 one the coastal road itself are tre 44th and 5lst British infantry C. y,sionS," the German dispatch said. More to the south is the British 10th Armored Division, while on the southern wing, the Seventh Armored Division as well as two New Zealand divisions have taken positions.
 Infantry Arrives
 'sThe First British Armored Divi- sion and the 50th Infantry Division also have arrived near the front in the last few days. Behind the front, another British division and one In- dian division are drawn up in Echelon. Tn the face of these offen- sive preparations of the British, the Italo-G German armored army has taken adequate measures"
 The only adequate measures" de- scribed by the German dispatch were attacks by the wholly inferior Axis air force.
 Allied advices from the desert yesterday said that the Eighth Army was being hampered by sleet and sandstorms though yesterdays Cairo communique described heavy air at- tacks.
 In south-central Tlnisia, French forces were steadily, but slowly clos- ing in on Kairouan from the north west, under cover of their artillery high on the mountain sides, and the famous Lafayette Escadrille, now back in action with American P-40 Warhawk Fighters.
 The French, who have won some highly strategic engagements. were reported about IS miles from Kair- ouan, gateway to the important port of Eousse. Although the task before them seemed hard, the French, by taking Sousse. would deprive the Axis of an important port. cut com- munications between Tripolitania and Tunisia. and prevent junction of the Afrika Korps and Col. Gen. Hans Arnim's forces in Tunisia.
 The French announced yesterday that they had smashed several Axis strong points to gain control of a l2-mile line northwest of KAirouan They also announced that they had wiped out-with the execution of 90 prisoners-an Axis force trapped in a valley.
 The capture of two more Axis strong points vas announced by the Trench today.
 "Twenty-four miles northwest Of xairouan. our troops destroyed German post. Twenty bodies were left on the battlefield. and Q dozen prisoners and four machine guns were captured" ]" a communique said
 "south of the Hueraiassa area. ie miles northwest Of Kairouan. there was local fighting. Our troops oe- cupied an important eiRht. One hundred men. mostly ofil>ers. were captured. Our losses were llght"
 Radio Morocco said enemy bomb- CTS were over Bone. Algeria. near the Tunisian border. during the night. but powerful anti-alrcraft fire nrevented them from dropping bombs.
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