Evening star., 1943-05-20

III ] 0luISu0u 0OICOl
Major Eliot Believes
CrumbIing Of Resistance
Shocked Germans Themselves
By Maj. George Fielding Eliot.
The balance sheet of the North Africa
campaign, as Prime Minister Churchill
has just pointed out so graphically in
his speech to Congress, shows heavy
credits on the Allied side.
The Germans fought in Tunisia to
gain time. Not time as against the in
vasion of Europe. as has been so gen.
orally assumed, for an invasion on a
large scale hardly could have been
carried out before now in any case, and
the number of troops involved in Africa
was not sufficient either to make such
an invasion or to Withstand it. The
Germans rather sought to delay as long
as possible the cashing in by the Allies
of the dividends of the chief strategic
advantage which the victory In Africa
has brought us-the reopening of the
Mediterranean to our sea traffic.
AS long as we were compelled to use
the long sea route around the Cape of
Good Hope, we could not reinforce and
supply the Middle East readily; we could
not, save at great cost, maintain a
steady flow of supplies to Russia through
the Persian Gulf. Therefore, the Ger
mans could hold the Balkans with a
minimum expenditure of force, and their
military enterprises in South Russia
were greatly advantaged. Moreover, the
shipping that we were using in this long
pull was wasting SO much net carrying
power going and coming as to make an
appreciable deduction from our ability
to act vigorously elsewhere All these
advantages the Germans sought to re-
tain as long as possible by their fighting
In Tunisia. Obviously, if they retained
them through a great part of the sum-
mer OF 1943, they had done something
worthwhile; but to lose them in the
spring, and fairly early in the spring,
Is quite another matter.
On the other hand, the Germans have
lost very heavily both in actual fighting
power and in prestige. The net loss to
the Axis just in the Battle of North
Tunisia alone has been in the neighbor-
hood of $4,000 dead and wounded and
100000 prisoners, the majority of both
these categories being Germans. Our
own casualties have been around $4,000
IN this fighting, many of whom will re-
cover, and In addition, as Walter Lipp-
mann already has said, we have gained
French Army Of 100000 The net gain
IS 100000 f1rst-class fighting troops-a
substantial profit.
already have discussed the advan.
tages We derive from the opening OF the
Mediterranean, advantages from which
we shall be prof1ting from this time
forward until the end of the war.
But perhaps the heaviest blow which
the Axis cause suffered was the blow
to their prestige, in the eyes of their
own peoples and of their victims, and
In the eyes OF neutrals. The utter COL
lapse OF the German resistance at the
moment when Gen. Alexanders armor
came pouring through the gap which
had been torn in the German center.
while simultaneously the American armor
was charging into Bizerte, astonished
the world, in general, but it very evi-
dently stunned the Germans, in par
ticular. There had been so much talk
OF fighting Ito the last cartridge" every-
one was so well prepared for a long,
savage, inch-by-inch defense that the
complete disintegration of the German
Army though easily enough understood
on military grounds, came as q shock
from which the German people will not
easily recover. AS to the conquered
peoples, 1t has brought them new hope
at time when they sorely needed en-
couragement; as to the neutrals, 1t ap-
pears to have brought them all tho
conviction that Germany is going to
lose the war, and that nothing further
Is to be gained by subservience to Ger
man threats.
On the Allied side, think the greatest
single gain of the North African cam
paign was the forging of unity-unitv
OF purpose and effort, implemented by
unity OF command and based upon the
>SS SPAA ~ SA SooAoAOAl. VIC IdtG Seen
an aggregation of British, French and
American fighting forces, land, sea and
air, welded into single war machine,
responsive to single will We have
seen that machine smash, on the field
OF battle, the best that the Germans
could deploy against it. This result is
due, Of course, very largely to the re-
markable personal qualities of the COM
mander in chief, Gen. Dwight D. Eisen-
hover, an officer whose study of war
begins with the human elements and
not with the principles of strategy. But
that 1t should have been possible at all,
IN so short a space as six months and
under such inauspicious political and
geographical circumstances, to produce
such result, is bright banner of
hope for the future-not only of hope
for victory, but for the reaping of the
fruits Of victory.
Likewise, we have gained a great ad-
vantage in our own United Nations re-
lationships. It is not by chance that
victory in Tunisia has brought about so
great an improvement in Anglo -Ameri-
can-Soviet feeling that it is possible for
Mr.. Churchill to speak openly OF future
meeting between himself, President
Roosevelt and Premier Stain The