The Pittsburgh Press (March 11, 1943)
Stimson reports –
U.S. casualties 2,242 in 6 days
Bulk of 2,007 missing are believed prisoners
Bulletin
Allied HQ, North Africa –
Heavy fighting is in progress at Ksar Rhilane, 40 miles from the southwest end of the Mareth Line in southern Tunisia, according to reports to Allied Headquarters tonight. The British 8th Army was reported to have inflicted heavy casualties on Nazi forces.
Washington (UP) –
U.S. casualties in Tunisia from Feb. 14 to 20 – the period of the Allied retreat and initial counterattack – totaled 2,242, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson disclosed today.
These included 59 killed, 176 wounded and 2,007 missing, Mr. Stimson said. Of the missing, most were probably taken prisoner by the enemy.
Mr. Stimson said in this period U.S. losses ran heavier than those of the British and French.
He said:
Losses on both sides in Tunisia during the past month have been substantial. We probably have fared better than the enemy. More than 1,000 Germans and Italians were taken prisoner during the month, and over 100 enemy tanks captured and destroyed.
Allied forces in Tunisia have had much the better of the fighting during the past week. Highly mobile Axis forces have been extremely active but the net result has been decidedly unfavorable to the Axis.
Mr. Stimson said that aircraft have been playing an important part in the Battle of Tunisia, supporting ground troops and attacking Axis shipping, airfields, docks and other installations.
He said:
In air combat, our planes continue to show gratifying superiority. Last week, we shot down 58 enemy planes for a loss of 31.
In Tunisia –
Allied advance toward Gafsa
British beat off attack in northern sector
By Virgil Pinkley, United Press staff writer
Allied HQ, North Africa –
Allied forces have occupied Métlaoui in a drive toward the Axis anchor point at Gafsa and have beaten off another enemy attack in the Sedjenane sector of northern Tunisia, a headquarters communiqué announced today.
French troops which methodically have been cleaning out Germans and Italians from the northwestern shore of Chott el Djerid (salt lake) in south-central Tunisia, turned northward and captured Métlaoui, an important rail and road center from which the Allies can strike quickly toward Gafsa.
Becoming untenable
Gafsa was rapidly becoming an untenable point for the Axis. It was one of the first towns taken by Marshal Erwin Rommel in his big westward push on the central front last month. He was later driven back from most of this area by counterattacking U.S. troops.
Once reestablished at Gafsa, the Allies would be in excellent position to strike eastward toward Sened, Meknassy and the Gulf of Gabes – the areas known as the Tunisian bottleneck.
The British 8th Army stopped the Axis cold for the second time this week in the area west of Sedjenane. The enemy attacked yesterday afternoon, according to the communiqué. Gen. Jurgen von Arnim has made heavy sacrifices in trying to budge the British from the northern end of the Allied line, his gains have been minor.
Blast airdromes
Allied heavy bombers again attacked the Axis airdromes at El Aouina and La Marsa, near Tunis, scoring direct hits on both fields.
At El Aouina, planes on the ground were hit and fires were started. The attacks cost the enemy eight fighter planes.
Allied medium bombers attacked Gafsa in support of the advance toward that town, and fighters opened up their guns on enemy vehicles and infantry in the northern and central sectors. Only one Allied plane was lost yesterday.
Zero hour near
Obviously, the zero hour of the final Allied offensive was nearing. The weather on the northern front had been a major factor, but United Press staff correspondent Edward W. Beattie, with the British 1st Army in the north, reported:
Fine days now greatly outnumber rainy days on the northern sector, and the ground rapidly is hardening, but neither side will be in a position to make a full-dress attack until steady sunshine is assured.
The situation was different at the other end of the Tunisian front, where Gen. Sir Bernard Montgomery’s powerful 8th Army was drawn up. Fighting weather has already arrived, but will end in six weeks or two months, when southeastern Tunisia will become unbearably hot and infested with malaria.