The Rim

The veteran troops defending the last Axis-held corner of North Africa jabbed out furiously last week and cracked the Allied ring. Panzer divisions, probably some of Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps, surged against inexperienced artillery and U.S. armored troops holding the westward end of Fai'd Pass (see map). Despite ceaseless rains which have impeded Allied operations, more than 100 Axis tanks with dive-bomber support broke the U.S. line, split into two columns and advanced northwest toward Sidi bou Zid and south toward Gafsa.

Rommel was improving a position in which he already held all the advantage. He and Colonel General Juergin von Arnim, commander of the Axis forces in the north, occupied a rim of commanding heights from Mateur south to the Mareth Line. Behind them was the flat coastal plain over which they could move rapidly against any vulnerable Allied point. General Dwight Eisenhower was forced to operate across a muddy terrain at the tough end of supply lines some 400 miles long.

Passes & Pillboxes. Eisenhower's problem, complicated by the Axis attack, was to break through the Axis rim of defense on to the faster, smoother track of the plain. There were a number of roads through: the Ousseltia Valley, Sened, Faid Pass. Until Rommel's determined Panzers can be rolled back, Faid Pass was now effectually closed to the Allies.

The Axis' southern position was guarded by the pillbox fortifications of the Mareth Line, built by the French atop high, naturally defensible escarpments. But the south appeared to be a likelier route for an Allied plunge into the coastal flatlands. The weather was wet, but the footing was better over sandy soil. And in the Allies' southern sector were the battle-smart veterans of the seasoned Eighth Army. With a strong show of artillery and tanks, Rommel tried to delay them. They edged on.

Bases & Battlefields. Air forces, in the prelude to the final struggle, hammered at each other's bases and communication lines. The score in the air: 645 Axis planes downed; 260 Allied. Both sides continued to pour men and materiel into the constricted, crowded battlefield. Axis forces already numbered 250,000 men, according to Mr. Churchill. Allied forces on the front line were undisclosed, although Mr. Churchill said 500,000 had been landed in Northwest Africa.

Rommel's thrust may seriously upset all of Eisenhower's plans. The capture of Gafsa would mean the loss of the Allies' most important central Tunisian base. If Rommel (variously reported wounded and nearly captured) widens his assault, he will seriously disrupt Allied communication lines. The decision might be delayed even beyond the first weeks of summer, the time now apparently set for victory and a push toward southern Europe.

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