World: Fight to a Finish

New York Times Correspondent Joseph M. Levy wrote from Cairo last week: "The British armored forces and infantry units have broken the Axis line west of el-Gazála and have sent the Germans reeling backward in headlong retreat." Other reports also had General Erwin Rommel's Army "reeling backward." BBC claimed this week that Rommel was abandoning Bengasi and retreating towards Tripoli.

The German Army's retreat as far as el-Gazála was orderly enough. Beaten back rather than completely outmaneuvered, Rommel had left el-Gazála to hold el-Mechili-el-Tmimi road in defense of Dérna. In one of the biggest battles of the Desert campaign, the British cut...

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