Tunisian Victory (Part 2)

e [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] w [Music] [Music] a lot of us guys got packages at Christmas you know what was in mind stuffed dates stuffed dates in Africa under the date Bond and you beat that one good thing about Christmas you may get homesick and we did but you also get Christmas dinner [Music] [Music] [Music] the my [Music] all you get notion this of the oce so my life everybody fed well at Christmas including the [Music] pets long about now we began to take notice of the kids first off they were kind of shy but Arab kids are no different from the kids back home when it comes to [Music] Candy a lot of them looked about half starve the Germans had picked the land clean so we gave half our milk ration to the Red Cross they ladel it out [Music] off duty we just roamed around looked and we saw some mighty strange sides [Music] [Music] we wondered what the moish girls look like behind the veils wondering was about as far as we got one Sunday the middle of January we're hanging around catching up the news from home when we were rooted out for assembly they told us to polish our brass and shine our leather some of us said what's the big idea well we found out and you could have knocked me over with a tank it was the pre himself riding along in a jeep when we saw Mr Churchill come in not puffing his cigar we knew something big was cooking in a small Seaside hotel at Casablanca discussions began at once their purpose to design the shape of victory in Africa and Beyond first a meeting was arranged between generals deol and Jiro who had succeeded Admiral dala assassinated a month earlier out of the meeting was to grow the union of the fighting French who had never lost hope and the French for whom hope had been reborn second the United command for the new Tunisian campaign was created the Allied troops in the area were now predominantly British but by Common agreement General Eisenhower continued in Supreme command as his Deputy commanders three British officers General Alexander on land Admiral Cunningham on Sea Air Chief Marshall tedar in the air under them British American and French officers and Men serving side by side the whole scheme a dovetailing of command unique in military campaigns third we fixed the terms which would end the fighting unconditional surrender of all these decisions our Russian and Chinese allies were kept fully informed the conference ended Mr Churchill flew on to tripol to greet the Victorious eth Army and explain its vital part in forthcoming events for the decisive hour was at hand battle lines were drawn in the North stood the British first Army in the center General ziro's French troops in the South the Americans further south a small group of fighting French had completed its historic 1500m March and taken up positions on the Left Flank of the British eth army which faced the formidable marith line behind which barrier rl's Army after its long retreat had entrenched itself Tunisia was gray with German troops 15 full division [Music] no scratch troops these but battlewise Veterans of Poland France the Balkans they together with seven Italian divisions were armed with the most modern types of equipment including the newest Fighters and bombers of the German Lu the German orders were hold Tunisia at all costs keep control contr of the Mediterranean rumel standing behind his marath line saw that he must soon be faced with an attack in the rear from the Allied armies along the great dorsal as well as an assault by the eighth Army at merth he therefore struck first in an Endeavor to remove the Menace behind him on February the 14th the blow was struck heavy armored columns burst out of fed pass in the mountain barrier and threw into the valley Beyond in the face of their Onslaught Allied armor withdrew with heavy losses by the 21st the enemy had forced his way through the cerine pass and his armored columns were advancing in a three-prong thrust one main column aimed at tabessa our supply base in southern Tunisia and another at tala Key town in our lines of communication almost within sight of his objective he was halted American British and French forces all stood immovable against the final impact and in Counterattack broke it while Allied air power pounded rl's lines of communication and Supply the threat was ended advancing past destroyed German armor we reoccupied cerine pass and by March the 17th the original battle lines had been restored as soon as RL saw that his Westward thrust was doomed he made an abortive attack South against the a Army the Germans unveiled the new Tiger tank the British the new 17 pounder anti-tank gun 52 tiger tanks were left burning HS from then on the initiative was [Music] us of the various strategies which might now be employed against the enemy General Eisenhower chose one which envisaged the entire military situation in terms of a cylinder the Western Wall Allied land forces along the great dorsal the northern and Eastern Allied air and sea power concentrated in the Mediterranean the sea ports of Tunis and berser were to act as the intake valve through which those enemy troops that escaped the devastating attacks of planes and submarines based at Malta were to be sucked into the cylinder at the bottom of the cylinder stood the powerful British eth Army to serve as the piston which in its upward stroke would push the enemy into an Ever smaller space still in possession of the enemy were certain high hills to the west of Tunis and bazer their capture was an essential part of the entire strategy for these Hills with the spark blood which when the Piston had forced the enemy into a state of high compression would explode the combustible mass that was the final strategy to succeed perfect coordination would be necessary between land sea and air forces the Northwest African Air Force commanded by General spots was divided into five major groups of which three were combat the Strategic Air Force Under General Jimmy dittle these were the big boys the long range bombers pounding away at enemy bases and shipping the coastal Air Force Under Marshall Lloyd day and night Fighters these protecting ports and convoys and finally the Tactical Air Force a new conception of air power developed by the British in the Middle East all fighters and attack bombers British and American were placed under one command so that we could strike with the full force of our flying artillery when and where it would do the most good air marshall Cunningham in command of this group and general Al Alexander in command of all Ground Forces lived and worked side by side in a tent camp in the Tunisian mountains theirs was a complete partnership and in it lay the pattern of ultimate Victory by the middle of March the stage was set the first move was up to air marshall Cunningham in a continuous 24-hour assault the Marth fortifications were pounded from the air [Music] then General Alexander gave the signal for the Piston to begin its upward stroke Montgomery looking ahead had planned the Merith battle 3 months before he would strike after a barrage and in Moonlight as aten but simultaneously he would begin an outflanking movement on the left the frontal blow had to cross a Gorge the Wy zigar and create a bridge head under cover of which tanks and artillery could cross the Wy before the enemy's Counterattack in force could be met 3 days before the attack it rained heavily [Music] [Music] next morning our men were holding on like Bulldogs only four tanks had got across but with these and their own arms our infantry kept the bridge head intact the enemy fearing another lamen now withdrew armor from other sectors and threw it in whilst this battle red our outflanking left hook by General fryberg and his new zealanders reinforced by the first Armored Division was racing across Ross 150 Mi of desert towards elh the blow was now struck by 50,000 men on the ground and by bombers Fighters and tank Busters from the air [Music] [Music] the Germans pinned down by the north umbrians at meth moved their armor too late the new zealanders then forth to be known as the left hookers drove through the Marth line had been turned the Piston was on the move its speed made possible by the Feats in Road building of the South African Engineers air and Naval forces shelled and bombed all along the seaw wall our Fighters struck at their transport planes still pouring men in through the intake valve knocking them out of the sky by the hundreds [Music] and on land the British first Army was a constant threat in the north while in the center the French had attacked a pishon and further south the Americans had broken through to Elgar and mcasi thus enforcing constant pressure All Along The Land wall of the cylinder [Music] [Music] April 7th an American patrols of light tanks striking Eastward met patrols of the British eth army advancing [Music] northward we got quite a bang out of meeting these guys 2,000 miles they'd come fighting all the way yes sir we got a real bang out of it these are the guys that broke the back of the Africa core [Music] still the Piston pushed relentlessly on April the 10th spax fell April the 12th sus and on April the 20th after exactly 30 days of fighting in Pursuit the eth Army had driven the enemy into the hills Beyond enfidaville and in its wake was a great homecoming what got me was watching those villagers coming back mostly on little donkeys piled up with so much stuff you'd wonder how they carried it reminded me of the Bible somehow you know the donkeys and the hills behind and and these folks trekking home there was one old chap spoke a bit of English and he comes up to me in Old J madams and he says thank you thank you thank you thank you and then he started shaking hands with us I thought he was never going to let go and as we watched him going down the old Joe says to me says you know George I had a buddy killed the other day and I was pretty sore about it but now all these poor Devils coming home gives the old thing a kind of a meaning well then when we went down to the Village it was just the same down there little Jewish boys taking off the yellow stars they'd been made aware as if they was lepers and then our army doctors attending to the women and the youngsters just as if I was on the panel back home I certainly felt Les Brown off I certainly did the rapid advance of the eth army had left the American divisions at mcasi and Elgar far behind the battle area General Alexander now switched these divisions to the north this remarkable 200m march across the heavy traffic streams of the first Army's lines of Supply was accomplished without once interrupting the Eastward flow and this in complete [Music] secrecy the Piston had completed its upward stroke the desired state of enemy high compression had been achieved now to capture the spark plug the vital Hills West of Tunis and bazer this led to a number of major battles of which five were typical Hill 609 longstop Hill gobat plan Jebel manur and tuna the eighth Army struck at tuna the French 19th Corp attacked Jeb manur [Music] on the goalat plane the British sixth Armored Division striking towards Tunis had drawn upon it most of the enemy's remaining armor [Music] in 3 days of struggle our main purpose was accomplished the drawing to this battlefield of fim's tanks and guns and their destruction there meantime the British 78th division was pressing the attack on longstop Hill [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] for 12 days the hills echoed with gunfire positions were taken lost and retaken when the German lines broke at last their dead lay in hundreds unbedded on the battlefield as our infantry went forward engineers and Pioneers built roads across the mountain tops for vital supplies to reach them in 14 days they built 11 miles meanwhile further north the Americans had embarked on their phase of the campaign this started with the assault on Hill 609 long range artillery started the attack [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] directions all batteries left eight Baker Baker [Applause] we took kill 609 there weren't as many of us guys and we got to the top as they' been at the bottom we took it thus one by one F anim strongholds in the mountains fell the Germans had been outfought now they were to be outwitted General Alexander knew Their Fear of the eth army so he reinforced that fear with heavy bombardments and local attacks from Montgomery's front at the same time he secretly transferred the fourth Indian and the first and seventh armored divisions from the eth to the first Army in the north whence the main attack was to come the spark plug was ours and we were now ready to explode the combustible mass now to pour on the power now to give the Apostles of power and education in the use a [Music] it British and Americans in the air with everything that could fly [Music] British and Americans on the ground with everything that could shoot French artillery French [Music] infantry the British Navy [Music] all poured forth their concentrated [Music] Fury this was Flip's Warfare such as the inventors of the blitz had never dreamed of [Music] the Nazis challenge to the Free World to fight or Surrender was being answered [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] a [Music] after only 8 hours fighting the hard crust of German resistance was shattered our armor crashed through the Americans blitzed their way into bizer the British smashed right through the center to capture t Tunis then a British armored column crashed across the neck of Cape bond to hamt another British column raced around the tip of the cape to prevent any evacuation the whole axis Mass was split into four segments the end came quickly by tens by hundreds by thousands they came on foot in trucks and behind their bands the greatest mass surrender of fully equipped troops in modern history we had lost nearly 70,000 men dead wounded and missing 35,000 British 18,000 Dominicans 15,000 French but for every man we had lost the enemy lost five and at the end 15 full divisions 266,000 of their best men laid down their arms no batan this no cre no men riddled with disease and shrunken with Hunger fighting to the last bare-handed educated in the school for power they were quick to recognize Superior power and when they did they quit quit coold this is the end of the axis African Adventure H the racket seems funny don't it Joe so quiet yeah what's biting you Joe I don't know I can't help thinking all the hard work that went into those burnt out tanks and half tracks and airanes gone for nothing had to be done oh sure it did but still in all think of all the trucks and Automobiles and things all that junk might have been I know bloody shame just because he was told that he was a Superman well he never figured things out for himself never argued the toss same as we do too bad he didn't hear some of our arguments at the old dog and fox back home you know I guess that's the real difference between us and them we argue the toss as you're saying they don't yeah when you don't argue the toss anymore you aren't half a man anymore you're just a blooming tool like a spanner or a sore or a gimy maybe they like it that way maybe they do but suppose somebody tried to use you or me like that Joe suppose somebody said put that Fell's eyes out or turn a h pipe on that Jew on that woman would we do it what do you think you and me Joe we may not always think alike but we do think you and me and old alons than the rest we certainly think all right you know George I got an idea why can't we after the war the same work gang I mean keep on swinging together what couldn't we do you mean build more AES than ever was yeah that's it and ships thousands of ships right and food so as nobody be hungry no more yeah building things up instead of blowing things up like I don't know like dams in the desert and Roads through the jungles maybe Bridges cross all the oceans we could do it I bet you yeah do all the jobs at once doing and knock the block off anybody who wants to start another war and bring the smiles back to the kids faces all over the world boy what a job but just now Joe it's the same rough road the same road you we had just come the same bloody OD Road and for quite a while yet boy oh boy what a job bringing back the smiles to kids faces [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Africa is free and Europe that much nearer free freom the liberating hosts are on the wing