Evening star., 1943-01-10
Rains Halt Push
African Drive on Axis
Seen by February
By Paul J. C.. Friedlandey

Dy T OWb - u rIte0tOu0eVs
Before the winter rains turned North
west Africa into treacherous mudhole
and slowed the battle Of Tunis to q
walk, Allied patrols slipped through Axis
lines to reach the sea near Gabes. More
patrols are continuing work In that Sec
tor. And slogging through the mud be-
hind them, about 40 miles northwest Of
Gabes, is a strong Allied task force.
Somewhere deep In the Libyan desert
q French Army, said to number several
thousands when 1t left Lake Chad weeks
ago under Brig. Gen. Jacques lie Clerc
to join the North African campaigns,
was reported several hundred miles in
side Lbya.
Marshal Erwin Rommel, on the road
since October "a covering more than
1000 miles with the 9th Army still at
his heels. had part Of his rear guard
digging In near Wadi Zem-Zem, about
200 miles east of Tripoi.
Advance units Of the broken Afrika
Korps were said to be streaming into and
beyond Tripoli, apparently racing the
Allies toward union In Tunisia with the
Axis defenders Of Tunis and Bizerte.
Squeeze Play" Shapes Up.
Thus, two months after Gen. Eisen-
hover led his invasion forces onto North
African beaches, the Allied squeeze play"
in Africa Is shaping up so that the real
pressure on the Axis can begin. The Of
fenstve in Southeastern Tunisia against
Gabes which started out rs light patrol
activity may be the key to the Allied
plan.
Rommels forces are in q crossfire be-
tween British bombers working out Of
Libyan airflelds and Allied pilots based
in Algeria. About the best thing he can
do is to keep running past Tripoli into
Tunisia.
Allied drives from the west are 80 close
to the French-built Mareth Line, q little
Maginot, as to neutralize its use as q
barrier against the 9th Army. If Rom
mel gets to Tunisia first, the consolidated
Axis African troops may be able to tie
up the Tunisian front and thus the
European front for months.
If he doesn't make it, II the Allied
task force can break through to Gabes,
anchoring on the sea q wedge that will
keep the Axis units apart, Rommel may
be caught three ways-the 9Th Army
from the east, the Yanks and British 1st
Army from the west and the Fighting
French from the south.
Nazi Dunkirk Held Possible.
To the north lies the Mediterranean
and the possibility Of German Dunkirk
an escape by sea either to Tunis or
Bizerte or to Sicily and the Italian main
land.
Englands Dunkirk was over Is miles
OF water and 1t was made possible by
Englands amateur deep-water and river
boatment and the fact that the Raj
could call upon q great concentration OF
land-based aircraft from all over Eng
land to perform the miracle OF 50 few
holding of such large Luftwafe.
Naz Dunkirk out Of Tripoli would
be something else again: 375 to 400 miles
OF open water, no concentration of ship
ping such as the English mustered, no
concentration Of nearby airfields or air
strength to shelter the evacuation fleets:
and combined Raj and American Air
Force that is steadily increasing its
strength as against the Luftwaffe.
Rommel is running down a dead-end
street. Should the Allied cutoff STRAIT
egy come of, he will have to decide
and quickly-whether to stand and fight
boxed In under increasing Allied pres
sure, chance a desperate escape by sea
nr e,Yif