NEWS OF THE WEEK
THE war has been going well on all the fronts where Germany
THE
Italy are the enemy. Winter, compelling the Germans in Russia to seek winter quarters where they may dig themselves in, has not checked the vigorous Soviet offensive. The landings at Kerch and Feodosia in the Crimea are in the nature of an out- flanking move on a large scale. If the Germans still claim that they are retiring according to plan elsewhere, this claim cannot be made in the Crimea, where they have been making desperate efforts to capture Sevastopol. The Russian advance following this suc- cessful landing may already have cut off considerable forces between Feodosia and Kerch, and may isolate the forces be- sieging Sevastopol; it will tend to drive the whole army in the Crimea back on to the narrow isthmus of Perekop, which itself may be threatened from the north by Russian armies driv- ing down from the Donetz region. Meantime the offensive in the centre and the north continues to press the harassed enemy. In Africa the Germans under Rommel are endeavouring to extri- cate themselves from the most critical position they have been in since the retreat from Sidi Rezegh. Rommel's aim has clearly been to keep the core of his fighting force intact, and to withdraw it, if possible, without serious fighting, towards Tripoli, whence he may hope to be reinforced. But the British have been hanging on to his rearguard relentlessly, bombing his communications, and throwing mobile troops round him to threaten his line of retreat and compel him to give battle. This necessity he has now accepted, and as we write the battle is already joined. In its preliminary stages the enemy has suffered heavy losses in tanks, but is evidently putting up a stubborn fight.
