Evening star., 1943-05-05
Onward in Tunisiu

The breach in the northern sectors
OF the Axis defense line which re-
suited in the capture of Mateur is
an important step toward eventual
expulsion of the enemy from North
Africa. This action is especially
gratifying to us because it VIZ; almost
exclusively a triumph of American
arms. For nearly fortnight Gen.
eral Patton's Second Corps had been
hammering it's way through a nexus
of rugged hills which guarded the
approaches to Mateur, a rail and road
junction that was the key to Axis
communications behind that section
OF the front. It was d-fashioned
battling reminiscent of the First
World War, with infantry slowly
working ahead under cover of ar
t1llery barrageS. The mountainous
terrain precluded the use of much
armor, while this factor plus bad
weather kept the air arm from play
ing major role. Axis resistance was
stubborn, carried out by picked
German units which fought dogged-
ly and counterattacked repeatedly.
Losses on both sides were admittedly
high. 1t was a gruelling test for our
troops, from which they have
emerged VIGOROUSLY with high
credit.
The capture of Mateur drives
deep salient in the Axis line. The
town is only nineteen miles from the
Axis main fortress of Bizerte to the
northWard and about the same dis
tance from the town of Tebourba to
the southwark, which blocks the ad-
vance of the British First Army
down the Medjerda Valley toward
the city of Tunis. The indications
are that the Americans are driving
toward Tebourba, an operation which
threatens to take in rear the Axis
forces resisting the British First
Army. However, the intervening
country is rough going, though tray
ersed by a road, and the same is
true of the terrain northward of
Mateur to the salt lakes which lie
below Bizerte. If the Axis high
command is willing to pay the price
and take the risks involved, there
may be much stiff fighting imme-
diately ahead. On the other hand,
Axis leadership may have decided to
make swift retreats like that from
Mateur and put up its next deter
mined stand behind the fortified
zone nearer the coast. The next
couple of days should reveal which
decision has been made.
This places the Mateur victory in
its proper perspective as a telling
preliminary success rather than
decisive action. The entire TuniSian
campaign has evolved into a gi-
gantic siege, pressed continuously
by the Allied armies all along front
aggregating nearly $50 miles. The
strongest Axis positions are at the
opposite ends of the line; in other
words, in the extreme northern sec
tor before Bizerte and in the ex-
treme south, where a mass of un-
usually rugged mountains has thus
far held up the British Eighth Army.
geographically, the weakest part of
the Axis line seems to be in the CEN
ter, in front of Tunis. There is al
ways the possibility that, if the
center is pierced, the Axis forces may
be split deliberately into two parts,
so that the campaign would become
two separate sieges, that of Bizerte
and of the rugged Cape Bon Pen
insula, where Axis forces could hold
out much as our troops did against
the japanese at Bataan. There are
probably enough Axis troops to make
both these last-ditch stands, and it
may be possible to use them more
advantageously in this fashion than
by crowding them into the single
restricted Bizerte area, assuming
they could all concentrate there
after their center was pierced. The
Axis objective is to gain the maxi
mum of time. Their Tunisian army
already is doomed. since it cannot be
successfully evacuated by sea in face
of the Allied water and air blockade.
The Axis problem therefore is to
"expend" those lost troops with the
most delay and the infliction of the
greatest losses on the Allied assail-
ants. There is nothing as yet to
indicate that the morale of these
seasoned troops is cracking or that
they suffer from a crucial lack of
munitions or supplies. A tough fight
to the finish can be anticipated.