Though it is not by any means over yet, the Battle of Tunisia has been properly started. The Mareth Line promised to be a tough nut to crack but General Montgomery wisely decided to smoke out Rommel, finding the entrance to his burrow so fiercely disputed.

Or perhaps the pattern of the whole attack has based on making the enemy squander blood and armour on what may never have been more than a holding action, while the flanking thrust was driven home. It suffices to register satisfaction that the wily German Marshal has been squeezed out of this key position in little more than a week’s fighting. Possibly it would have been more to General Montgomery’s liking if he had stayed a little longer so that a final reckoning could have been reached. But Rommel is too good a soldier to indulge in such death or glory tactics. He has retreated farther and faster than any commander in military history, but always the withdrawals have retained a semblance of order. True, they have been costly undertakings, as retreats inevitably are, but they have never so far attained the proportions of a rout.

In the face of relentlessly close pursuit on land and merciless harrying from the air the Nazis have remained an army, a fact which Mr. Churchill certainly has in mind when he soberly warns us not to indulge in too early an assumption of complete and final success. Solid gains have been made, but the collapse of the Mareth defences is the first and not the last of the tasks confronting our forces before North Africa is finally cleansed.

With triple threats to his flank from El Guettar, Maknassy and Fondouk, Rommel is in an unenviable position. The forces of the United Nations are in an ideal stance for dealing one of the most smashing blows against Axis arms that has yet been delivered. We may be sure that General Eisenhower and his experienced and battle-hardened deputy, General Alexander, are fully conscious of the opportunity, and alive to its every possibility. Before us unfolds the promise of one of time’s sweetest revenges.

Our North African forces are not devoid of men who fought a grim way back to the beaches of Dunkirk, cursing the stukas and vowing to get their own back when the odds were something like even. Now the fortunes of war are ironically reversing the position. This time it is the Hun who has his back to the sea. At the moment his position is considerably better than that of the B.E.F. in 1940. He has air cover, plenty of modern equipment, and numerically the odds are not so much against him. But what of the sea crossing?

The Italian fleet must discover a new spirit if it is to dominate even a sufficient strip of “Mare Nostrum” to permit a withdrawal on the Dunkirk pattern. What is more than likely is that it will serve the Nazis as they have so consistently served the Duce’s soldiery, and will leave them in the lurch. Of this probability they must have more than an inkling. We can expect therefore a fanatical defence of Tunisia, even to the last few square miles. It is a prospect which will not deter the converging armies of Britain and America with their French comrades from making their inevitable kill.