Current Events May 8, 1943:

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY MAY 8, 1943:

Large Numbers of Prisoners Taken in Two Cities;

British 8th Army Menaces Enemy Elements

Still Entrenched Above Enfidaville;

Escape by Sea Said Impossible

ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN NORTH AFRICA,

Tunis and Bizerte were captured in

mid-afternoon today by triumphant Allied troops »triking

in overwhelming force by land and by air.

The British radio reported that Russian troops captured a number

of hills overlooking the Black sea naval base at Novorossisk.)

An air battle of equal ferocity raged over the battlefront, the midnight

communique revealed. Twenty-seven Axis warplanes» sent to

strafe and bomb the Russians in an attempt to check their new offensive,

were shot down by Soviet airmen.

Gen, Henri Giraud issued an order of .

the day hailing the liberation of Tunis and- Bizerte for "Joan of

Arc day" tomorrow, and declaring "Forward to victory."

The order of the day to be relayed to the French troops in the

field said:

     The Charleston Gazette

               Charleston, West Virginia, Saturday Morning, May 8, 1943

Triumphant Allies Seize Berzete, Tunis

Axis Army Flees To Bon Pininsula

Sea Base Won by Americans;

Planes Bomb Roads Choked

With German, Italian Troops

Large Numbers of Prisoners Taken in Two Cities;

British 8th Army Menaces Enemy Elements

Still Entrenched Above Enfidaville;

Escape by Sea Said Impossible

ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN NORTH AFRICA,

May 7.---(AP)-—Tunis and Bizerte were captured in

mid-afternoon today by triumphant Allied troops »triking

in overwhelming force by land and by air.

The naval base in the north fell to the American

doughboys at 4:15 p. m. (12:15 p. m. EWT) and the

capital was conquered five minutes later by British .1st

army troops in the blazing coordinated drives climaxing

two days of fierce battle. ___

Roads from both cities were choked tonight with German

and Italian troops and tanks and trucks fleeing to

the coastal hills below Bizerte, and to Cape Bon peninsula.

Allied war planes pounded and slashed relentlessly at

the retreating columns.

Rear=guard troops still were fighting in the capital, but fierce

struggles on the outskirts of cities failed to halt the Allied drive to

destroy the Axis in Africa. The Axis armies thus were

crushed in their two main African bases-six months after the Allies

swarmed ashore in North Africa ! and on the eve of "Joan of Arc

day."

                                 Mightiest Offensive Crushes Foe

Red Fliers Blast

350 Axis Planes

American Tanks Aiding

Drive in Kuban

MOSCOW, May _8—(Saturday)—(INS)—

Large Numbers of Prisoners Taken in Two Cities;

British 8th Army Menaces Enemy Elements

Still Entrenched Above Enfidaville;

Escape by Sea Said Impossible

ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN NORTH AFRICA,

May 7.---(AP)-—Tunis and Bizerte were captured in

mid-afternoon today by triumphant Allied troops »triking

in overwhelming force by land and by air.

The British radio reported that Russian troops captured a number

of hills overlooking the Black sea naval base at Novorossisk.)

An air battle of equal ferocity raged over the battlefront, the midnight

communique revealed. Twenty-seven Axis warplanes» sent to

strafe and bomb the Russians in an attempt to check their new offensive,

were shot down by Soviet airmen.

                                    350 Axis Planes Blasted

U. S. Reveals Base

OnAmchitka Island

WASHINGTON, May 7.—(UP)—

U. S. forces have established an air base only 63 nautical miles from

Japanese-held Kiska island in the western Aleutians, the navy announced

today, on Amchitka island.

This island is 149 nautical miles nearer Kiska than the previously

westernmost point of advance in the Andreanof islands.

Establishment of 1he Amchitka base, accomplished in late January,

cut the flying time to Kiska. for a bombing plane averaging 300 miles

an hour, to 12 minutes. This has made possible the heavy daily raids

carried out when weather permitted since March 1.

Victory Marks

Joan of Arc Day

ALGIERS. May 7.—(AP)—Gen, Henri Giraud issued an order of .

the day hailing the liberation of Tunis and- Bizerte for "Joan of

Arc day" tomorrow, and declaring "Forward to victory."

The order of the day to be relayed to the French troops in the

field said:

"On Joan of Arc day—May 8—

Tunis has been liberated, Bizerte has been set free.

"Honor to the British army, honor to the American army,

honor to you soldiers of France who fought without arms, without

'clothes, without boots, but who believed in victory and the vanquished.