Evening star., 1943-05-08
Germans Conjure Up
Propaganda Stories
To Sugar-Coat Defeat
Italian Radio Declares
Axis Was Outnumbered
10 to ! in Tunisiu
By the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
Italy curtly announced the fall
Of Bizerte and Tunis today to an
Allied force which the Rome radio
said outnumbered the Axis 10 to /,
while the Germans conjured up the
old familiar propaganda stand-bys
such as secret weapons" and Gin
vasion of England" to sugar-coat
the bitter pill of defeat in North
Africa.
The German communique, broad
cast by Berlin and recorded by the
Associated Press, said street fight
ing still was in progress in Tunis,
although the Italians said via the
Rome radio the capital had fallen.
THE enemy continued a large
scale attack with manifold superior
ity in Tunisia," the German COM
munique said, Axis troops with
answering fighting spirit offered
stubborn resistance, frustrated enemy
attempts at encirclement supported
by strong infantry and tank forces,
and imposed serious losses on the
enemy in men and material. Our
own losses likewise were consider
able. The enemy after violent fight
ing penetrated into the cities of
Bizerte and Tunis. Bizerte was given
up after the destruction of military
installations. The street battle In
Tunis is still being waged. Enemy
thrustS against the southern sector
OF the Tunisian front were repulsed. :"
The Berlin radio broadcast edi-
torlal comment-purporting to come
from the Dagsposten of Stockholm
to suggest dire things to come.
Invasion of England Suggested.
Invasion of England is not out of
the question" the Berlin radio said,
claiming to quote Dagsposten.
There might be mass attacks by air
and with U-boats with, perhaps, new
and terrible weapons"
The newspaper was quoted as say
ing that Great Britain's position is
so desperate that an Allied invasion
of Europe cannot be postponed any
longer and the Allied invasion may
be expected In the west, but hardly
in the south of Europe"
The thesis on which this reasoning
was built was the assertion that
German submarine bases in France
and the Lowlands must be knocked
out land If this is not done, then
England is lost and the fate of the
empire is sealed" Berlin said.
Quite in contrast, the Associated
Press correspondent in Stockholm,
Edwin Shanke, quoted the Berlin
correspondent of Aftonbladet as
saying the Nazis were "struck with
astonishment" by the Allied triumph
in Tunisia.
THAT is not saying too much" !"
Aftonbladet added. The cores
pondent said. the German press de-
clared the Tunisian campaign can
be looked upon as finished"
Nazi Foreign Office Confident.
A German Foreign Office spokes-
man was reported by DNB as saying
the North African events changed
nothing in regard to the certainty
of Axis victory"
DR.. Paul Joseph Goebbels, Ger
man propaganda minister, un-
leashed concentrated new 'hate
campaign" against the Allies,
Dagens Nyheter of Stockholm re-
ported, adding:
'The countries opposing the Axis
states are so many and SO different
that it is not easy for even Goebbels
to include them all under one single
theme of hatred"
The Rome radio quoted the Ital-
ian communique as saying the Allies
"overcame heroic Axis resistance at
Tunis and Bizerte with crushing and
overwhelming strength" It was
Popolo di Roma which said the
Allies were 10 times as numerous as
Axis troops and had "far superior
armament"
Our troops still fight under the
most difficult conditions, knowing
that they not only delay an enemy
attempt to attack the fortress of
Europe, but even Illustrate it," the
Rome newspaper said.