The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-09-01


 Then Game Alamein
 Then came the battle of Fl Ala mein and the start of Montgomery's long chase of Rommel which ended tn the complete collapse of the Axis African forces on Tunisia's Cap Bon. That ignoble surrender of al- most S00,000 troops and the sur render Q few days later of Pantel- leria cleared the Mediterranean. OFT the first time since l940 Allied con- coys could ply Mussolinis mare nostrum."
 On Aug. IT, ie42, Allied Force Headquarters for North Africa was established secretly in London. < Feverish training began to make every man ready for the task. Octo- Der came and hundreds of ships were loaded in the U. s. and Great Britain. On the night of Nov. 8 the combined armada was thrown against the ports of Algiers, Gran and Casablanca, with subsidiary landings at Safl, Fedala and Port Lyantey in French Morocco.
 In southern Tunisia Col. Edson
 
 tank-destroyer company, and an infantry battalion from the lst divi- sion, had secured the high ridge which runs through the center of Tllnisia in Q north south direction. Frenc troops with antiquated equip nent, including horse-drawn 75- nm. field pieces and ancient Armored cars, held 1t. While rain ' and mud kept the northern frant, { then held by the British Ist Army, Stationary, the Allies determined to try to cut through to the sea at Sfax or Gabes.
 Upset Allies Timetable
 Tunisia was lightly held by the Axis. The attack was planned for late in January, but few days be- fore Che jump-off time, the Ger mans started an attack of their own. using Tiger Mark VT tanks for the first time in Tunisia. They swept the French of some hilltops overlooking the Ousseltia valley and upset the Allied timetable,
 A few weeks later, on St. Valen- tines Day, the Germans launched their big attack which carried them . clcse to Tebessa, the Allied southern base and through the Kasserine Pass.
 Baptism of Fire
 Two American divisions and units of two otherh had their real bap- tism of fire in that big battle, which lasted for two weeks before Kasse- rine and Tebessa. They were not veterans, most of them, but they hcuuitted themselves well. The over powering weight of German armor and infantry was too much and a withdrawal had to be made. When the balance went the other way, when the Germans had to withdraw to avert being cut of in the Kas- serine plain. there were insufficient numbers of troops and tanks to push the Axis out of Gafsa and into the hills guarding the road to Gabes.
 " Then the combined squeeze play nf the 9th Army and Gen. Patton's End Corps forced the Germans to retire and the sth Army joined the Americans. While the Germans re- treated north of SouSse and SfaX, General Eisenhower used the left hook with which Montgomery had fianked the Mareth Line and taken Gabes. He pulled the American 2nd Corps from the south, brought them around the rear of the British 1St Army, still holding fast at Medje2, and swung them into the front on the extreme north. The stage was now set for the final push into Tunis and Bizerte and the disinte- grafton of the Axis forces.
 Veterans Show Rockies
 The 9th Army had pinned the German forces from the south. The 1st Army had already cleared the roads to Medjez-el-Bab and had quilt up supplies for the final drive. Yt remained for a lot of foot-Slog- ging doughboys and tommies to take . number of impossible hills from which Germans controlled vast stretches of valleys on all ap- breaches to Tunis and Bizerte.
 Take them they did, with the vet erans of Kasserine and Fl Guettar showing the rockies how 1t was done.
 Air Power Was Key
 Air superiority was the key to the Allied victory in Africa just as much as the lack of 1t was one of the causes for the loss of the December battle for Tunis-air superiority and automatic artillery. Of course, the Allied artillery was not really automatic, but almost every day shocked German prison CTS complained that 1t was Allied s'automatic artillery" that was fore ing the vaunted Hitler legions to withdraw.
 Race for Tunls
 Admiral Darlan in Algiers or @sred resistance to cease and with 1n Q few days the French who had nesisted our landings were as friendly as they have been since. Gran and Casablanca presented GHater problems, but by Nov. IS NlD Blade force, combining British and American armored and infan- try units, was running the race for TIinis against airborne German troops flying from Sicilian and Italian bases only a few hours away.
 Allied airborne troops aided the Blade force. British parachutists ADwn from England, with . few hours rest at Anglers, went on to severe the airport and harbor at Zone. American paratroopers took Glle advanced Algerian port at Xouks-les-Baln near Tebessa.
 Air Cover Lacking
 But air cover generally was lack. ing during the early stages of the Tiinisian race. The Blade force finally came up against the main German force only . few miles out- a,6e Ta1nis east of e place that vas 70 he mentioned almost daily for fnon8aA, MedfeZ.el- -Bab. The Amer f&Mss ma4& Mn4tfn1a manRtaaA fFalN0aaFhn