Evening star., 1943-04-12
RommeI's S Retreat
Seen Possible Rout
Mai. Eliot Nevertheless
Cautions Against Danger
In Premature Cheers
BIZ Maj. George Fielding Eliot.

ton above all others engages our atten-
uon: Has Rommel at last lost control of
his retreat? If SC. he may not be able TO
organize a defensive position covering
the southern approaches to Tunis, and
We may indeed see an African Dun
kerque'
Gen. Bernard L. Montgomery is con-
ductlne a relentless, magnilcently Oh
ganized, thoroughly co-ordinated pur-
suit. Pursuit is ore of the most difficult
operations of war. 1t requires the utmost
in human and mechanical endurance.
No opportunity" says our field service
regulations, is given the beaten enemy
ito reorganize his forces and reconstl-
tute MS defense. The object of the pur-
suit is the annihilation of the enemy
Marshal Erwin Rommel has tried to
stand twice since he was driven from the
Wadi Akarit positions In both cases his
rear guards have been overwhelmed. He
is losing heavily in prisoners and ma
tcrial The strategic air force of Maj.
Cen. James H. Doolittle is shooting down
his transport planes bringing up gaso-
line and supplies. and the Western
Desert Air Force is hammerin9 at his
retreating columns in close co-ordina-
ton with the ground forces of Gen.
Montgomery's 9th Army.
The full power of that veteran army,
unleashed on the coastal plain, is main
tanning contact with Rommels retiring
Afrika Korps, hanging to them grimly.
while on his fanks the Americans and
French are driving ahead toward Kali
rouan There is a possibility-as yet only
a possibility, of course-that this time
Rommel's genius for orderly withdrawal
has been unequal to the occasion, that
retreat has been converted into rout and
that he may not be able to halt and turn
at bay.
AS to iris, good deal will depend on
what Rommel has already been able to
do with units withdrawn at an earlier
date from his southern positions, units
which may even now be digging in along
a defensive front somewhere between
Sousse and Tunis. The strength of these
units cannot be very great. Rommel
would not have much marginal strength
for this purpose, after finding troops to
make defense on the Wadi Akarit and
the flank guards whose stout fighting
has so far prevented debouchement of
1t. Gen. George S. Patton jrs Ameri-
cans INTO the coastal plain on the flank
Of Rommel's retreat
al
will nave tried to aid in the establish
ment of this defensive position. but the
Allied advance from Medjez Ell Bah is
the answer to that. and has probably
given Won Arnim all he can do to hold
it off.
Other factors must be considered-the
loss of the ports of Sfax and Gabes As
entry points for ship borne supplies: the
loss of airfelds, restricting the arrival
Of air-borne supplies and making Gen.
Doolittles S lnterception problem simpler,
while restricting German fighter opera
tions in protection of the air COM
munications; and, above all. the morale
of the retreating forces. harried on
all sides by encircling Allied pressure,
furiouslv pursued by the 9th Army,
whose fighting powers they must have
grown to fear and under the constant
nammering of the Overwhelmingly SUI
perior Allied air forces with SO little
German air activity evident as coun-
termeasure.
Nothing is more injurious to the morale
of ground troops than to be constantly
attacked from the air without any sign
of their own air force in the pitiless skies
from which death rains on them.
BY the co-ordinated employment of
every available agency Of destruction and
terrorizatlon,' the regulations lay down.
the shaken morale of the defeated
enemy is converted into panic The in
cipient dissolution of his organization
is transformed into rout'
Has this happened, is it happening to
the Afrika Korps? 1t can happen to
the best of troops, given circumstances
Of sufficient strain. The Afrika Korps
is a fine fighting outfit, but it can break
as other veteran forces have broken.
That Gen. Montgomery has made
2pSNAai otoOS VI Pun sun 10 SNluClll llOIl
the record. When he broke Ronmel's
front at Ell Alamein, he chased the Ger
mans all the way across Egypt and
Cyrenaica before Rommel was finally
able to organize a rear-guard position at
El Agheila
Rommel has no such distances into
which to flee this time The sea is al
most at his back. The chief responsible
ltv is now Gen. Montgomerys. The
Initiation and execution of an effective
pursuit. says Volume III of British
field service regulations, will depend
the commander"
The same is. of course true of the
commander of the withdrawing force II
Rommel still has control over his own
destiny. he may be able to halt and
stand fast. TIE siege of Northeastern
Tunisia will then develop along expected
lines. But there is a chance that he
has lost control There is chance that
Gen. Montgomery can keep him on the
run. can herd him and his men back
against the sea and destroy them utterly
in a great battle of annihilation.
This is not yet certain. The time for
eXultation is not yet at hand We should
at this moment watch the news from Tu-
nisia with attention, keeping our hopes
under restraint, realizing how very much
already has been accomplished and that
there well may be hard fighting still to
@0 NJ y,