Evening star., 1943-01-23
TripoIi FuIIs

|
vanguarsss of General Montgomery
British Eighth Army are not yet
officially reported as being in full
| possession of Tripoli, the fall of that
bomb-blaSted flaming city is in
eVltable. From heights east and
south Of the doomed town, British
artillery is pounding in unison with
the guns of Allied naval units off the
harbor which are Shelling the coastal
forts and preventing any Axis at
temptS to escape by sea. With the
exception of demolition squads as
signed the task Of destroying unsal-
Vable stores and installations, Rom
mel'S rear guard is in full flight for
the Tunisian border, continuously
strafed by British and American
airmen.
Thus is liquidated the last frag-
ment of MuSsolinis once big colonial
empire in Africa. Even if Marshal
Rommel and his Afrika Korps make
good their escape to Tunisia, they
will be in former French ter
ritory recently seized by the Axis as
counterStroke to our intervention
in French North Africa. With the
fall of Tripoli, all Italian Africa will
have passed out of Axis control.
Tripoli was the strategic heart of
Italian power. With its excellent
harbor, the best on the North African
coast between Bizerta and Alexan-
dria, its abundant water supply, and
It's relatively fertile surroundings,
this former lair of Barbary pirates
had been transformed into a -four
lshing metropolis by Italy's coloniz-
ing efforts since its conquest from
Turkey, thirty-tWo years ago. 1t had
a population of over 100000, nearly
half Of it Italian. Lying as it did
more than 1000 miles from Egypt.
1t was virtually safe from direct
British attack except in case of an
Overwhelming defeat such as oc-
CURED to Rommel at Ell Alamein
The only potential threat was from
Tunisia, less than 100 miles to the
westward, but that danger had al
ready evaporated when Mussolini
made his jackal entry into the war
in the summer of 1910, because
France had already collapsed before
the German invasion and was on the
point of capitulating to the con-
queror. 1t is curious commentary
on the vicissitudes of warfare that the
Axis forces now fleeing from Tripoli
seek to hold up the pursuing British
behind the strong fortified belt built
by the French near their Tunisian
border against their Italian neigh
borS. ..-.
1t IS improbable that the Axis will
attempt to regain the lost Italian
colony. Strategically, Tunis is
much better bridgehead to fight the
Allies from African soil and at least
delay Allied mastery of the Mediter-
ranean and eventual attacks on
Southern Europe. RommelS i'm
mediate objective is to get his har-
asSed army into Southern Tunisia
behind the shelter of the fortified
Mareth Line and there form a firm
junction with the Axis forces in
Northern Tunisia centering within
the TuniS- -BiZerta triangle. The Axis
already controls the intermediate
coastal strip, and local Axis offensives
in Central Tunisia against mixed
American, British and French forces
are designed to widen that coastal
strip and strengthen the Axis hold
on the entire region.
After Tripoli is firmly in British
hands, its value to the conquerors
depends upon how quickly the port
and harbor installations can be re-
paired from damages inflicted both
by Allied bombardmentS and by de-
liberate destruction wrought by the
Axis before its abandonment by
them. Once restored to something
like normal, Tripoli can serve as a
valuable base for British operations
against nearby Tunisia, thus sup
planting the 1,200-mile overland
route from Egypt. So close a base
should enable the Eighth Army to
deliver full-Scale assault on the
Mareth Line in the relatively near
future. Thus Rommels harried
forces may find Tunisia a breathing
space rather than refuge.