Mediterranean Algiers Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 30, 1943, Algiers, Algiers Page Iother stars and stripes sunday May 30f 1943 tunisian Battlefield free French troops Volunteer to drive germans from Tunisia Fng is rugged and if there Ever was a More rugged trek than that wintry walk Back from Bidi Bou j Zid to kas8erine Gap Between february 14 and february 21, i Hope another army has to make it. At Faid pass the american army took it on the Chin hut showed even in defeat it had one thing i some of its critics of Little Faith Back Home lacked it had guts. And plenty of them. The boys who died there were. Facing East and were killed by bullets travelling West. It was easy for the Honey voiced radio commentators in the big sugar to speak of a a Green and inexperienced american army. The Arpi chair boys weren to fed like coins in a Slot machine one unit at a time against a bigger better armed foe. They did t have to fight for two Days and two nights on Djebel Les Souda or Saira under tank artillery mortar and machine gun fire. They did t shiver on a cold Mountain top at Kasserine Gap a week later either drinking cold Coffee made from Rainwater collected from Rock niches As did a sgt Melvin Blackburn of Huddy ky., who knocked off two germans with his 1903 Springfield Rifle and said 9don�?Tt you worry9 a a you Tell the folks Back Home not to worry about us. We feel f bad because we be Only got one life to give Uncle Sam if he needs it. Africa broke like a spent wave on the stubborn american defense at Kasserine Gap and the Axis ebb tide began that ended this month with the capitulation of 200,000 Kraut Heads and italians who had nothing left but their swagger and their appetites. Kasserine Gap was the first step on the one Way Street to Victory. Seed Cut him in two the wounded austrian pleaded with the american doctor Quot give me pills or something doctor a he said in broken English Quot i must get Back to the front. I must Hie austrian had been wounded by a mine and was being treated at an Allied Hospital near the Mediterranean coast. He was an athletic Young Man in his Early twenties who had run the Quarter mile for Austria in the 1036 olympics. The american doctor Captain Alfred Yankauer of new York City Shook his head then turned to me. A these Are the most amazing people a he said a a none of the wounded want to be evacuated to the rear. They All want to go Back into the lines and boiling mixture Captain Yankauer Wasny to referring to the germans in Tunisia he was talking about members of the corps franc do a Frique a High boiling mixture of metropolitan and colonial French poles italians germans russians and arabs who for months had been fighting Arnimus germans in the dense Cork forests and Hills of Northern tunisian. The corps franc includes liberals socialists communists de gaullist. A a actually it is a corps against Vichy and Vichy politics a explained a 47-year-old French civilian doctor who had volunteered As a first lieutenant. The members of the corps have an adhesive in their hatred of Vichy and the germans who have been pulling Vichy s strings. The corps franc is a too percent Volunteer Force its Only attraction a Promise that volunteers will be Able to fight the germans. While the corps franc do Frique is under the command of general Henri Giraud it is no regular French army unit. The idea for it was bom last november when three anti Vichy French officers were walking through a by will Lang time Magazine correspondent chilling wintry rain. The French corps do Frique then still under Vichy a regulations barred from its ranks political prisoners French officers with de gaullist leanings jews except As labourers. A Why a asked the three French officers a a could not a separate Force be built up of these men who cannot get into the regular army but who Only want to fight germans a the suggestion was submitted to general Giraud who approved. Shortly afterwards an advertisement was inserted in North african newspapers announcing the formation of the corps franc do Frique promising volunteers that they would be at the front within three weeks. Four Hundred men volunteered the first Day and so Many on following Days that government authorities saw fit to Stop the advertisements. But recruiting continued furiously. De gaullist and other men imprisoned in concentration Camps by Vichy Laws seized the Opportunity to leave their prisons for the frontline. Jews offered the Chance to become combat troops for the first time enrolled by the hundreds. Today jews comprise 20 percent of the corps strength one battalion is 70 per cent jewish. Color on one sleeve wore British helmets carried Issue French Small arms and grenades. They begged and borrowed to get other equipment enabling them to fight better. Their doctors worked in captured German tents with captured German drugs. Even after the american 9th division took Over part of their sector and loaned them mortars trucks and other material one corps company was almost fully equipped with captured German arms. Heavy casualties dressed in Battle dress those volunteers who Only wanted to fight the germans have Jeen doing just that since last december. Some of them have been in the line for 55 straight Days. Last february 1,250 corps franc men held Down a mountainous line stretching 20 Miles from a Djenane to Cape Serrat protecting the first army a flank a the Mediterranean. They held t almost with their fingernails for months against Superior German equipment. They were dressed in borrowed British Battle dress with a Small French Tri the corps franc has had casualties heavy casualties. But the wounded i talked to All wanted to return to their units As quickly As possible. Commander of the corps franc do Frique is tall distinguished colonel Pierre Magnan a de gaullist officer who has served eight Days in jail after the american Landing in november. Col. Magnant a one standing order to his troops because of political differences there will be no political discussions amongst themselves. Shortly before the last phase of the tunisian Campaign opened the corps franc was reinforced by several battalions of Gums fierce moroccan tribesmen who dress in striped garments and fight Best in the mountains. Then thousands of americans took Over part of the corps sector. It was then that col. Magnan smiled confidently and said to me Quot it was difficult once. But it is much easier the corps franc do Frique will probably be disbanded now that Tunisia is won. But the spirit which moved its handful of men to beat Back the germans during those Long Winter months will not be forgotten. When that same spirit and sacrifice and hatred of the germans moves every Allied Soldier Germany itself is lost. By James a Burchard stars and stripes staff writer everybody knew something big was just around the Corner the moment that Long column of tanks began to rumble through Hafsa. Down the main Street they spit barked and snorted Turret men pulling on fish pole aerials to avoid Telephone wires that crisscrossed above them. In the dark the tanks looked like menacing prehistoric monsters. That was the night of january 30. Hour after hour tanks Hal tracks and All the rest that made up a portion of the 1st armoured division passed through town toward the Northeast. It was nearly Dawn of january 31 before the last motorized unit of that mighty steel Chain clattered into the distance. Long before that came the magic the Miracle of Kasserine Gap w 5ri1? the debacle at Sidi bout words a a big push is on a Zia. I he american army shed a lot of blood As Well As supplies in yielding up Sbei la and Kasserine in that famous wrong Way Marathon March but on the Plains of Hatab Valley the yanks stood and braced. They will be cracking skulls at veterans conventions until the Hist Century Over who actually Stop it cd the germans before mount Hanna in the Kasserine Gap. You can put your Money on the 16th infantry it. Col. George wreck Loffus famous 105 my. Batteries which tossed a couple of thousand shells into the German flank on february 21, it. Col. Gardiner s tank battalion which rounded up italians like they were a Herd of cows the British armoured column that sailed Forth from Thala at the other end of the pass or the a-20. Spitfire and p-39 boys who bombed hell oui of the Axis legions on murky february 22. Every outfit there turned in a Good Job and its up to the military Graybeard to decide which Jack Horner pulled the biggest. Juiciest Plum. Rho thing everybody sems to ovine on is that the americans mopped Back peddling at Kassor i r clap. And they be be n going Forward Ever since. They be never stooped throwing the comeback punch they Start d after that week of the Heartbreak hike this Gorman Power in North the situation Well before we take you to the attack that memorable january 31, let us present a Brief word picture of the situation at that time in Southern Tunisia. Just to Quot get the records straight. Hafsa was the last major outpost of the american forces in Southern Tunisia. About 12 Miles in a southeasterly direction was Al Huettar held by one company and technically a a the to the Northeast wound another Road on this the first town was Send some 30 Miles from Hafsa and Beld by the enemy. Beyond Send Lay Manassy and the sea. Some weeks earlier a picked patrol from the 26th infantry had pulled a Surprise raid on Manassy and cleaned out the town before retiring with prisoners. Opening wedge everybody was asking the same question. Which Way had the 1st armoured gone Down the Road towards gabes or northward toward Send the answer was quickly forthcoming. It was Send. Send was to be the opening wedge of a battering ram aimed at the sea a battering ram that would split the enemy forces. Synchronized with the attack of the 1st armoured and 168th infantry was another drive from the North. This also was aimed at Manassy where the forces would join and smash eastward together. The boys did no to waste any time. They took breakfast on the Gallop and shortly after sunup were Well advanced along the Mountain rimmed Valley leading to Send. It was an impressive spectacle. As tar As the Eye could see the Road was one huge Parade of american Power. Approaching their objective they fanned out across the Valley. Riding in the leading reconnaissance car called the a Point car As it headed the entire movement a we really saw this scrap take shape. We were still half a dozen Miles from Send when the fireworks began. As a curtain Raiser nine Stuka dive bombers planted their eggs and me-109�?Ts strafed the Road with a vengeance. Sure there were casualties a Good Many of them one half track went up in flame an ammunition car exploded and for hours it popped like a fourth of july carnival. Everybody gave it several Hundred Yards leeway in passing. Patrols go out from the hillsides came machine gun and Rifle fire. Infantry patrols were dispatched to handle that Job. Then the germans opened up with 88 a their real prize package. There was enough Lead to suit everybody what with 50 Caliper guns All Over the lot blazing away at Jerry planes bombs giving Forth that deadly drum pop drum pop and artillery shells Landing far Back in the american column. Suddenly sgt. William Wilbur of Manning s. C., and Boss of our reconnaissance car. Held up his hand. Sharp orders were coming through the platoon radio. A a mov e Back half a mile a commanded the unknown voice. A a our artillery is about to we moved hastily taking up a position too Yards in front of a Battery of 105�?Ts. Now it was our turn to dish it out. Crack crack crack those 105s spoke with considerable authority. Shell after Shell screeched Over our Heads. As we watched Black columns of smoke jutted upward from Send. Apparently the gunners were aiming at two rows of Olive Trees which secreted the 88\s, rather than the town itself it was something of a that first Day. Both cur each others str Natl Ting ready for the is Center of the ring. Bright and Early on i the Selukas were Over Ani Fuller positions were tic our p-40�?Ts, Swannie Leyte joined the f air armadas lost planes. Then the work once More i Sands of round int that terrific Barra tanks discovered when they crashed the town that afternoon. And there still were plenty of enemy guns spitting when the Gallant 168th infantry moved in behind the tanks. They were hard hit. They were staggered but not stopped and the night of that second Day Send was under american dominance. Kasserine threatens As prisoners mostly italians streamed Back toward Hafsa our forces pushed ahead a few Miles. We had Send signed sealed and delivered but we did no to hold it. Not that time. There was a threat to the North a threat that developed into the Battle of Kasserine pass and the 1st armoured had to be rushed to that danger spot. Later As history books will record we returned to Send and did no to Stop until we had knocked Over Tunis and Bizerte to end the african Campaign. Anyway we got one memento of the three Day tussle. Banging into Send with the 168th infantry we knocked the sign off the Railroad station with the butt end of a Rifle. 1 we thought it would be a Nice decoration for a lieutenant colonels Lead quarters so we Hung it there to a there yet for All we know. Raff. A Hub of the wheel by Gault Macgowan nov York Sun correspondent my Pate Ting the i n a in they rumbled in the dark i under n to no Gay say practically bloodless Battle of the Oasis belts was the first step on the Road that led to by Ria. Unheralded As a sensational we tory ii was yet the beginning of the flowing tide that turned from the ebb to Kasserine pass. It was a slow motion Job. Yanks a re held id for the first time by i ii i and minefields. We took a Ong time too through them. The fir t wive of infantry to Pioneer a re the perilous Fields Les of tile Feria a Road to it had corns on its the experience gained e very of his own in Cofield a Piai or. Tile slow much of Gat a turned into tile i in step of Amateur. S. Path to rate on both 1 both March i lie of tort. B it to then a 3 ii l l they our Given Tor tin in
