The Trap

Last week the Axis armies in Tunisia showed their strength and weakness. They beat at the Allied trap in the north. They thrust heavily at Montgomery's Eighth Army in the south. But they had to give way in the middle; their weakness was that they were unable to strike and stand on all three fronts at once.

In the central sector Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's suddenly withered forces offered no resistance. Their plentiful sowing of land mines and booby traps delayed but did not halt the advance of U.S. troops, who overran Feriana and the Roman ruins of Sbeitla, jogged on past Sidibou Zid and regained virtually all the ground which they had lost during Rommel's savage attempt to crack the middle of the Allied ring three weeks ago. Rommel clung to Gafsa, which gave him a springboard for another attempt. But his hold was precarious. He was in danger of being outflanked by French troops moving up from the south.

Rommel's attack had been successful on one important score. He had destroyed much Allied materiel and had pulled out with few casualties, capturing more tanks than he lost. This was his strength: handy bases, his agility and his ability to strike hard, gravely weakening the Allies and disrupting their plans. The Allied trap had not been broken, but for the moment Rommel had effectively blunted its jaws.

The Animal. Rommel, having earned a breather on the central front, had to turn south toward the so-called Mareth Line, where pillbox fortifications, barbedwire entanglements, gun emplacements and land mines are sprinkled thickly through the Matmata Mountains. Only ten miles away was the Afrika Korps's old enemy, General Sir Bernard Law Montgomery, gazing up at the 2,000-ft. heights of the range, patiently waiting the day when stores, ammunition, artillery, men were all accumulated to his taste and he was ready to make his massive assault. Already assembled were probably 100,000 fresh reserves and veterans of the desert march from Egypt.

Rommel made a thrust through the narrow corridor between the eastern end of the Matmatas and the Mediterranean. It was an effort to keep Montgomery off balance, break up any gathering attack and wreak more destruction. Rommel's tanks and infantry hurtled along the corridor. But Montgomery was ready for them. He smashed the first attack. He smashed wave after wave with his armor and artillery. Rommel finally retired, bruised, having lost 33 tanks and suffered heavy infantry casualties in the fruitless engagement.

North around Tunis and Bizerte was the Marshal's colleague, Colonel General Jiirgin von Arnim, at whose heavy face the U.S. got its first look last week (see cut). Arnim might find a soft spot in the positions of the entrenched British First Army, be able to bend back the upper jaws of the trap. Like Rommel, Arnim hoped to hamper Allied concentration, demolish Allied equipment -- anything to delay the showdown. After hot hand-to-hand fighting he pushed the British out of the one village (Sedjenane), lost 3,000 men, 30 tanks. The British said that their losses were light. They still held Beja and Medjez-el-Bab -- and Arnim was frustrated until he could take those two key points. If he could capture Beja with its pretty, tile-roofed houses and its oft-bombed rub ble, the whole Allied line would have to fall back; the final Allied offensive might be set back many weeks.

The trapped Axis animal was still strong, it had already mauled its enemy and would maul him again. Nevertheless the trap was slowly closing. At the fronts, along the supply lines in the rear (see p. 21 ), the Allies pressed on, knowing full well that victory in Tunisia by summer may mean invasion of southern Europe by fall.

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