Evening star., 1943-10-09
Germans in Itu|v
Repeat Tunisiu
By Maj. George Fielding Eliot.

1t is still of some interest to continue
our former comparison of the campaign
In TunlSia with the one taking place in
South Italy. In Tunisia it was apparent
from the moment that the 9th Army
reached the Mareth Line that the Ger
mans could do no more than play for
time unless they could put much stronger
forces into Tunisia than they then had
in that country. They could jockey their
troops about within a CONSTRUCTED area,
an area which must nevertheless in
exorably grow smaller until at last they
would lose all ability to maneuver. Then
their reserves would be absorbed by
successive attacks and finally break
through would come which there were no
reserves to meet. The campaign devel-
oped precisely along these lines
In South Italy it is now apparent that
the Germans must soon decide either to
reinforce South Italy or get out of it
altogether. The longer they DELAY doing
one or the other the greater the chance
that they will in the event be able to
do neither. In Tunisia once they were
pushed back into the coffin corner they
had lost the power of decision They
were then taken by surprise by the shift
OF the American End Corps to the North
ern sector OF the front, they managed
to stop the first American attacks. only
to be attacked in the center by the
British lst Army They stopped that
attack, whereupon the Americans, REIN
forced, broke through to Mateur. The
Germans stopped that push temporarily
with their last reserve, and they had
nothing to meet the final knockout punch
delivered by two divisions of the 9Th
Army which meanwhile had been
switched around behind the center OF
the Allied line. The German reserves
had been absorbed In meeting the sue
cession Of attacks and when the final
reserve was thrown in by the Allies 1t
was decisive
In south Italy, the Germans made
their bid for a decision early. They
tried to throw the 5th Army back into
the sea at Salerno. They took a long
chance to do it, and they failed. The
penalty they paid was the firm estab-
EShment of the 9th Army in Calabria
and over on the east coast At that
point, the Germans were still able to
withdraw from south Italy altogether.
They have elected instead a DELAYING
action
They fought hard between Salerno
and Naples, were driven from that DO
sltlon by a combination of hard fight
Ing and OF Gen Montgomery lightning
advance to and beyond Foggia There
upon they Withdrew to the Volturno,
followed closely by the 5th Army, which
Is now in Benevento and Capua The
line of the Volturno cannot be main
tanned but, meanwhile, the 9th Army
has leap-frogged by sea to Termoli. An
out-flanking thrust which might have
spelled complete German disaster has
only been checked by the sudden arrival
on the east coast of a German armored
division for counterattack This di-
vision may have come down from the
north, or 1t may-as reports have it
have been switched across from the
volturno front. If the latter is true. the
Germans are playing the old Tunisia
dangerous than those of Tunisia onlv
because behind them there is still an
open line OF retreat
BY desperate effort, they have met
surprise attack. But it will not be the
last surprise attack. The Allies have the
forces and the facilities for repeating
the Termoli effort again and again.
Moreover, the last German foothold on
Corsica has given way and there can be
no question that eager hands by the
thousands are at work on Corsican air.
fields at this very moment, preparing
them for Allied planes The whole OF
the italian west coast from Leghorn
south to the mouth of the Volturno is
now open to Allied air and seaborne
descents of all sorts.
These are the conditions which the
Germans must take into account. They
must also remember that the Allies have
reserves in hand of considera BILE size
under bold and capable commanders,
One eminent British military authority
has suggested that the Germans will, in
the event, have occasion bitterly to regret
that they ever allowed a German di-
vision to fight in Italy anywhere south
OF Florence. The situation is one which
lends color to this view 1t is a situation
full of possibilities. and most of them
are possibilities of trouble or even dis
aster for the Germans.
But in all these reflections, we are
speaking only of South and perhaps
Central Italy-the peninsula. What hap
pens there is important, but it will not
be decisive as affecting the main theater
of operations in Europe Germany will
not be defeated even when all Italv is
won. What happens in Italy NAV con-
tribute to German defeat but will not
accomplish it.
Copyright, 1913, N. Y. Tribune, Inc)