Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1943-04-23
War TODAY
!
High Mountains
Give Romme
Natural Defense
Ry CAPT. JOHN H. CRAIGE

Written Especially for Int News >eff'ot
THE CAPTURE Of Enhdavllle
by Gen. Montgomery's Eighth
Army brings United Nations
forces in Tunisia 10 the Grand
Dorsal Mountains, which form a
defensive wEff before r.
and Tunis.
Thus the campaign 10 Gust
Field Marshal Rommels Nazi
and italian forces from North
Africa has entered its seminal
stage,
The North African campaign
has been fought over as great a
variety of different landscapes
and climates as any in history
Since their flight from Libya the
Nazi- Fascist forces have waged
rear-guard action on sand des-
erts and deserts composed OF
bare granite rock.
They have given hit-and-run
battle on fertile coastal plains.
also on salt marshes, and on
bottonless seacoast boys. Now,
as the end approaches. the war
has moved into high mountains.
THE 12o-MILE arc Of steep
hills and sharp-cut valleys, wall
ing of Tunisia's coffin-coner.
forms a curving barrier not I'M
like the eastern crest-line Of the
Allegheny Mountains in Penn
sylvania.
Unlike Pennsylvania. Tunisia
possesses few highways. Such
roads as exist traverse narrow
defiies winding through forests
of mountain peaks, the tallest
of which reach attitudes between
5000 and 1000 feet.
On the north and south end OF
the arc, where the mountains
approach the sea, the barrier is
highest and most difficult. To-
ward the center, two principal
highways follow comparatively
straight and level valleys con-
verging on the plain of nlnis
from Pont du FANS in the south
and Medjez-el-Bab farther north.
Width of the belt OF noun
tains through which Allied
forces will be obliged 10 fight
their way is a little more than
a dozen miles by the northern
route, approximately 20 by the
Pont du FahS gap.
Dispatches from the front
make il evident that advancing
United Nations forces are en-
countering a variety OF Alpine
warfare such as they have not
witnessed since the campaigns
of Norway and Greece.
AXIS SHARPSHOOTERS are
70 be found in every hill. Noun
tain guns and howitzers make
life miserable for advance
guards. Roadways, and the
whole floor of the passes
through which the advance must
be made. are thickly sown with
Axis land-mines. Hac king
through a mountain barrier of
this description is tough job.
Estimates indicate that Rom
rnel's army, and the force OF
Col. Gen. Won Arnim already on
the ground. total in the neigh
borhood of 100000 combatants
or from a dozen TO IS divisions.
This allows approximately one
division of defenders for every
10 miles Of front with two or
three divisions in reserve. In a
mountainous area where much
of the line can be held with
very few men this force should
prove ample for the tactical
needs Of the situation.
Weakness OF Rommels posi-
ton is that it consists OF a
single line. Once United Ma
tons forces make a penetration
of the barrier at any point they
can concentrate in the rear OF
the entire crescent Of hills, fore
ing the evacuation or capture Of
al of the defenders OF the 100
mile arc
BESIDES THE main passes
entering the coastal plain occu-
pied by Tunis and Bizerte. there
are about a dozen roads running
through smaller passes penetrat-
ing the mountain barrier. In
addition 10 these there must be
hundreds of goat tracks and
narrow human trails crossing
the range.
Problem Of generalship will be
10 find one Of these unmatched
by the Nazis or their Italian
allies so that the Axis rear may
be gained by surprise Native
Tunisian soldiers in the ranks Of
Gen. Giraud's North African
troops should be helpful in this.
Length Of time il viii take 10
drive Ronmers troops from
their mountains has been Vari-
ously estimated in informed cir
Giles at from six days 20 six
weeks. Once the barrier OF hills
is penetrated. the action in Tu-
nisia will enter lis final stage
which will consist Of the close
investment and siege Of the
fortified cities Of Bizerte and
Tunis. OF these ice former is
BY far the more formidable.