Mediterranean Algiers Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 30, 1943, Algiers, Algiers Page 12the stars and stripes a sunday May 30, 1943 gunners in Idle minutes skipped 88 shells passing peeps. Where Jerry shoved go tanks along the main Highway and the big Mark via a got within 3,000 Yards of the 1st division command Post. And somebody suggested maybe the command Post ought to move Back and the division commander said �?T111 be the last to leave and 111 shoot the first son of a b who starts Back up in the air Al Huettar who saw that Aerial show on april 38? remember the patrol of spitfires whom Uig Over the Battlefield and the time they were to hell and gone Over by Djebel Berda and nine Messe Schmitts came nosing out of the Clouds and Laid nine eggs on the 15ft�?Ts in the Ravine North of the Road. And the spitfires came Over but the Jerries were Long gone. And then a half hour later when they were Way to the North the two jump a came ducking Down out of the Clouds. All that flak bursting like Black roses and Guys staring away at the spitfires and saying Quot come on you b a earn a Days pay. Quot and the spitfires saw the flak and came boiling Over. And the Ju-88�?Ts dumped their bombs and frantically tried to reach the Cloud overhead. And one Little spitfire like a darting Trout got on its Tail and could hear the rat Tat Tat and the plunk plunk of the 9pit�?Ts gun. And the Ju-88 got into the Clouds and you cursed and yelled a the dirty so and so got away. But he did no to remember he came Down vertical diving. And a thousand feet up the Llames burst out of him. And he crashed right in the Ravine where the 155�?Ts had been dive bombed not a half hour ago. And the Little spitfire came Down and waggled his wings so that he did a Butterfly dance. And All the gigs came out and yelled and cheered and threw up their tin hats. And the spitfire wiggled joyously As if he were saying to the Field artillery Guys a a sorry we did no to get the Messe Schmitts. But heres a Ju-88, a present from the spitfire Guys and dumped right in your Lap. Yeah Al Huettar where the Jerries Hung flares at night like Boulevard lights. And All the Guys tried to shoot them out. Where the Date Palm Grove got socked with Butterfly bombs. Where a Ju-88 took a hit on i to bombs and vanished on a breath of flame. ,. Sure Al Huettar. Two years from now if you mention it somebody will say Quot what the hell is Al Huettar a new toothpaste the end of this think by Dave Brown Reuter a correspondent dirty Gertie Wasny to at Beme when the americans got to her Home town and neither were her Sisters or her cousins or her aunts. But there were plenty of Jerries still around doing All they could to hang out the unwelcome sign and tear Down All the Good will the chamber of Commerce had built up for the visitors to their City. How Many had that feeling of pained Surprise when after the roses and cheers and kisses of Perryville the Quick Roll toward Bizerte was stopped on the Little Hilltop two Kilometres outside town by shells plopping on the Road and in the big Nasi petrol dump sprawled under the Trees beside it the tanks were in and More were coming up. A they be got machine guns and anti aircraft Cannon from across the Channel a was the word that travelled Down the line. A a they be got the Tackack guns trained horizontally across the 150 Yards of water and can shoot right up the waterfront and the next morning when More tanks rumbled in to rub out machine guns even on our Side of the Channel the combat engineers slogged up the Road Over the Hilltop in single file to go in through the huge main Gate. They crouched and moved fast As they went Over the last Flat 100-Yard stretch this Side of the Gate where everything was exposed to fire from across the Channel. And jeeps put on fantastic bursts of Speed As they went Over that Little stretch their occupants huddled Down with their Heads drawn somewhere Between their shoulder Blades to make themselves As Small As possible. A hey Captain can i come in too a a doughboy yelled from under a tree As the engineers plodded by. He did no to want the infantry left out. A a sure but you be got to get your your own captains permission first a was the answer. A a what the hell kind of War is this where you have to get permission to get shot at a the Soldier grumbled As he went past me. But he ran to get his permission and a few minutes later came running Back waving his Rifle As he fell into line and Yelling Back to one of his pals Quot look after my stuff till i get Back will you Joe a who la forget the piles of debris the shattered buildings the smoke rolling up from burning barges and the ruined plants across the 8th army gets savvy in three years of desert and Rommel to an old Middle East hand coining As a stranger to this area from which the final phase of the african Campaign was launched. It was disconcerting to discover Here what seemed at first to be not Only a surprising tendency to think of the Campaign As something which began six months ago but also a tendency to regard As unimportant preliminaries the events of three months previous to last november. The Surprise wore off quickly. More reluctantly visitors from 8th army digested their resentment at what had appeared to be a Lack of a sense of proportion. And then your refreshing general Gur refreshing general blew away the fog. In the bag several Days after Tunis and Bizerte had fallen and the whole Campaign was in the bag. General Eisenhower called in the press and talked about what the 8th army and general Alexander had contributed to the common cause. It was like a plunge in the sea at Wadi auda after a Khamsee at Al Adem. Al Adem Wadi auda there must be dozens of names unfamiliar Here. Knights Ridge the Axis bypass Giovanni Berta Plev in a Bluff Thompsons Post Frey Berg. I know the name of Freyberg is unfamiliar because it was mentioned in boldface Type in this newspaper one Day As the name of the commander of the 90th Light. The names Are not important except As they represent landmarks on the Way to Tunis and Bizerte. The place names of Bat by Chester Morrison 0chicago Sun correspondent sentimental importance when the Battles Are Over. What is important in this Campaign is that they Are the names of places where lessons were Learned. Did the 34th division have its troubles so did the South africans. Did the French lose Valentines one armoured division lost Sherman. Did Patton Fine the boys for being out of uniform somebody i done to know who made the boys in the Middle East Button up their Battle dress tunics All the Way to the Adams Apple. But the 34th More than retrieved itself. But for the South africans much that has been achieved could not have been achieved. And when troops in the Field Are doing the work for which they were trained nobody cares much about regulations imposed by the base Wallah in higher . That if you like is the lesson that has been Learned by the 1st army and the 8th army and by that homogeneous group which just at the end was called the Allied armies. The lesson is that what you learn you learn the hard Way that soldiers Are not made in training Camps but in Battle. That is the lesson the 8th army Learned and that is Why Tunis and Bizerte were possible. In larger terms the lesson that has been Learned and Gen. Eisenhower has said so time and again a is that of the value of unified command. The place for definition and analysis of the military campaigns in which 8th army was involved Long before the 1st army arrived is toefields Seldom have More than not Here. You find that in books. But now that the 8th army has conquered the Nightmare territory it fought so hard to conquer its Job is finished. There Are no More deserts on which to fight Battles. In this War the 8th army a hard won knowledge is now useless. But the 8th army from Alex Ander to truck Driver and vice versa has become an army. It has acquired savvy. When it came to the Hills of in Idaville it was stopped dead by three men and a boy on top of the Hills. But because it was an army and because its commanders had Learned the hard Way from the enemy As Well As from other sources they were Able to know when they were stopped and to improvise the Way which in Gen. Eisenhower swords a Quot knocked the enemy for six right out of big and Good it took three years to make 8th army even with a leaven of seven year soldiers. Eighth army s commanders Learned the Art of improvisation from the enemy. The 8th army employed enemy tactics Rommel tactics in some of its most successful operations. And the Allied armies have now the beef and stamina without which even Tunis and Bizerte could not have been won. Look at the map for the battlefields. Read the books for what happened in the Battles. But if you really want to know what the 8th army contributed to the african Campaign it is this that when a Good big Man fights a Good Little Man the big Man always wins. But he a got to be big and he a got to be Good. Daily race features the Battle of Afaq by Clinton Green International news correspondent the Battle of Afaq we correspondents carried on for the last six months was quite different from the Battles waged by correspondents at the front but it was still a Battle. For a time there was a Quot communique sweepstakes a with such notables As John lamp Adner of Newsweek Drew Middleton of the new York times and Charles col Lingwood of lbs acting As track stewards. Bets were often placed As to whether up Insap or Reuters would be first through the door. And now the correspondent stripped Down for another big Battle. This time against time itself. There was a Good reason for racing against time Competition. No Story was any Good if it was in your typewriter while the oppositions Story was already on its Way to London or new York. But the Best Battle of All was the never ending Battle with the censors. Ail those were the Battles. They usually began in the words of col. John v. Maccor Mack who acted As ring master for the correspondents pre s conferences a a at first Light and went on until Long after the air raid was Over at night. There was fainting sparring and a couple of knockdowns. The Winner usually the censor. Of course there was the to be expected Battle of communications but the less said about that the better. It can be summed up by reporting that some London newspapers Are just now receiving dispatches from their correspondents on the Junction of american and British troops along the Hafsa gabes Road. Of course there have been Many Side line Battles. They were something like this a Battle for a seat when Gen Eisenhower held a press conference. A Battle for transportation in order to get to a place where you heard there was a Story but found it was nothing but a Mirage. A Battle for a few More Quot on the record statements. A Battle to stay on a plane priority or no priority. A Battle round the clock with the Home office. A Battle with yourself in trying to find another Way of saying that bombers roared Over the target and guns belched and tanks rumbled. In fact we had nothing but Battles. But our mothers warned us there would be Days like this if we went into journalism. Channel the masts sticking out of the water where bombs had sent Axis vessels to the Bottom and the big Sherman clanking around the Corners toward the waterfront where they could blast a Jerry machine gun nest out of its Church Belfry and rub out others hidden in the clumps of Trees along the Waters Edge and that uneasy feeling whenever a broken shutter flapped on a ruined building and you looked around quickly to see if a snipers Rifle might be pointing at you cafe de la paix who of those few who were there during the couple of hours it remained open will forget the incredible cafe de la paix where drinks were on tap at the bar and a British sergeant played a tipperary and a the Marseillaise and a the stars and stripes forever on the rickety piano while a few British and american soldiers Sang with the French proprietor and his wife and four correspondents who had wandered in to get out of Range of snipers bullets a tank banged away in the next Block and bullets from a 20-mm. Nazi machine gun Sang past just outside the door. But in that Little Sanctum the War was Over for a moment while everyone Sang happily and lifted glasses to a Victory that was still being won just around the Comer. It was fantastic unbelievable wonderful. I was in a jeep that followed an obliging French bicyclist up a Side Street where he promised we could get a Good View of the whole show from High ground. Some of that a High ground wed been fighting All Over Tunisia to take away from the Jerries. Where he came from and what he was doing Riding around on a sad the Harbor at Tunis through those streets we never found out. But he took us away from the Street where those tanks and doughboy were comfortingly spread out ahead of us and after four blocks a Tommy gun began to chatter right at our elbows. No jeep was Ever emptied faster than that one. We got it turned around and got Back to the main drag where even if things weren to a great Deal pleasanter we had More company of the right kind. Nobody will forget either the sturdy French of the corps franc do Frique who came into the town from tile Northern Side and did their share in picking off the snipers. Or the Little French operated bicycle jeeps that buzzed now and then through the streets with a couple of Swarthy corps franc soldiers supporting a wounded Comrade across the Bare Iron rods designed to support the jeeps Canvas top. Which they were making do As an improvised Stretcher. A it Jet Nix a Voy. A Ltd a a by the journey Back stars and stripes photo by a sgt. Ralph g. Martin 9beaux allemands9 there was one fierce bearded gum who went into a building right beside the spot where a Small group was perched on the sidewalk getting what cover they could from the Side of a Sherman tank. He first put Down his Rifle unwound his Scarf and took off a Little Amulet he carried on a string around his neck. Then he said his prayers replaced the Amulet pulled the pin on a hand grenade which he kept compressed in his right hand and leaving his Rifle on the floor crept silently up to the second floor. There was a Sharp bang a few minutes later and the gum came quietly downstairs. He replaced his Scarf and picked up his Rifle. He held up two fingers As he came out and turned Down the Street. A Deus Allemande Quot he said. The doughboy were doing the same Job if a Little less picturesquely. With their Tommy guns and the tanks were Clearing v the water front and the artillery went to work on the Hills across the water. And there was a lot More banging and crackling and the town got to looking a Little More desolated so that those who had marvelled at the wrecked planes at Sidi Ahmed Ai Dro Meon the Way in found room for More astonishment and More exclamations when they got into town. But when it was All Over it was a Safe town for Gertie and her family to come Back to
