Evening star., 1943-05-08
Allied Triumph
Delights Officials
In Washington
BY WILLIAM FRYE,

AsoSSldeCo IiCSS Quail NUITeSpOuQcHI
The speed with which Allied
troops shattered the Axis bas-
ton of Northern Tunisia brought
surprise as we'll as obvious de-
light in Washington today.
Since the North African invasion
last November, offcials-particu-
larly in military circles-have care
fully avoided any predictions on the
length of the campaign, but OBJ
servers got the definite impression
that the defeat of the Axis armies
was not expected before June.
AS described here, the final phase
OF the fight which resulted in the
fall of Tunis and Bizerte appeared
to have begun week ago when the
doughboys of the I'd United States
Army Corps under 1t. Gen. George
S. Patton. jr., stormed up the pre-
cipitous slope of Djebel Tahent-
also called Hill 609-just 13 miles
southwest of Mateur.
On this steep, 2,OOO-foot eminence
the Germans had pegged' their de-
fence of the approaches to Bizerte
and when it fell the Axis line COL
lapsed. The advancing Americans
seized it May /, and two days later
had swept into Mateur, vital rail
and highway junction of Northern
Tunisia.
Capture of Ferryville.
From Mateur, American artillery,
including the huge self propelled
155-millimeter gun mounted on a
tank chassis, could shell Ferryville.
That city was taken, and there the
guns had Bizerte itself in easy
range.
A similar key to Tunis was seized
Wednesday in a savage assault by
troops of the British 1st Army who
took Djebel Bou Aoukaz. That hill
also was main peg in the German
line, and its fall opened the road
to Tunis, toward which the 1st Army
turned Immediately, seizing Massi-
cault and pocketing the Axis forces
around Tebourba between their lines
and the Americans swinging down
from Mateur.
Estimates of the number of Ger
man and Italian troops left in
Tunisia are indefinite, but 100000
seems to be a generally accepted
figure, with probably something
more than half this number now
caught north of Tunis and thus cut
of from any last stand in the Cap
Bon Peninsula.
Face British 9Th Army.
Below Tunis, what is left of
Marshal Erwin Rommel's Afrika
Korps faces the British 9th Army
and the French troops in a short
ened line above Enfdaville and
Pont du Fahs. Threatened now
from the rear by troops of the 1st
Army in Tunis, withdrawal toward
Cap Bon seems their only chance
to escape immediate decimation.
Even in the peninsula they could
hardly hold out long.
Unquestioned and overwhelming
superiority in numbers has forced
the decision in Tunisia-numbers of
men, numbers of planes, of tanks, of
guns. And that appears to have
been the plan from the start, de-
spite the abortive attempt to seize
Tunisia with light striking columns
as long ago as November.
Pushed Toward Algeria.
American and British troops ac-
tually occupied Mateur. Tebourba
and Djedeida in that drive. But the
Axis was able to bring armored
divisions against mere platoons of
tanks, and to establish air superiority
before the Allies could build advance
bases from which to operate their
planes. Inevitably, the Allied ground
units were hurled back toward the
Tunisian border of Algeria.
It now appears that this attempt
to take Tunisia in November NAV
have been a hasty decision, reached
on the assumption it was worth a
try" when French resistance in
Algeria and Morocco ended in three
days, simplifying enormously the
problems of occupation which had
figured in the original planning.
But the lack of railroads, highways
and air bases prevented any imme-
diate movement In force against
Iunisia, while the Axis, on the other
hand, was able to reinforce its troops
there quickly from Italy, Sicily and
Sardinia.