Back in Action

The mystery as to the whereabouts of the U.S. II Corps was happily resolved at week's end. Units of the Corps popped up, surprisingly, at the northern flank of the front. They had got there so efficiently that the whole Allied offensive was able to start sooner than had been anticipated.

The troops moved 200 miles from the El Guettar sector in a swift and skillful march. General Sir Harold R. L. G. Alexander, commander of Allied ground forces in Tunisia, issued a statement: "Senior British officers have the fullest admiration for the excellent staff work, particularly for the speed and secrecy with which the move was carried out. They equally praised the excellent march discipline of the U.S. Army troops on the roads."

But better yet was the way the Americans fought when they got there. They had no Dunkirk to avenge, but they did have a Faid, an El Guettar, and a Fondouk. A correspondent who had written of their deficiencies on those earlier battlefields wrote now: "Experienced units of the II Corps look equal to the best British forces."

The II Corps had, on the flanks of the road leading to Mateur, some of the toughest terrain in Tunisia. The rubble slopes of the hills were covered now with thick green grass. The enemy here was well emplaced. And yet in a single day U.S. troops pushed forward five miles and stayed forward. After the fourth day of attack, the Axis troops, apparently broken by constant shelling, pulled back their lines. U.S. troops moved within ten miles of Mateur.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.