Show ernie pyles slant plant on the war wan lack of experience F at first slowed up allies american algerian troops were green and officers unseasoned by ernie pyle his hil dispatch was written and first published when tah pah note bots nots editors editor the algerian front ile he is now on his hii way to cover if th S was with wi the at 3 boyt boys in the pacific war zones sones A ORAN ALGERIA men who bring our convoys from america sorrie some of whom have just recently arrived tell me the people at home dont have a correct impression of things over here they say people at home think campaign is a the north african walkaway and will be over quickly that our losses have been practically nil that the french here love us to death and that all german influence has been cleaned out it if you think that it is because we newspapermen here have ernie pyle failed at getting the finer points of the situation over to you because this campaign at first was as much diplomatic as military the powers that be permit our itchy typewriter fingers to delve into things ings internationally which were ticklish enough without that I 1 believe misconceptions at home must have grown out of some missing part of the picture it would be very had bad for another wave of extreme optimism to sweep over the united states so maybe I 1 can explain a little bit about why things over here though all right for the long run are not all strawberries and cream right now in tunisia for instance we seem to be stalemate stale mated d for the moment the reasons are two our army is is a green army and most of our tunisian troops broo Ps are in actual battle tor for the first time against seasoned troops and commanders it will take us months of fighting to gain the experience our enemies start with in the second place nobody knew exactly how much resistance the french would put up here so we had to be set for full resists resistance nce that meant when the french capitulated in three days we had to move eastward at once or leave the germans unhampered to build a big force in tunisia so we moved several hundred miles and with the th e british began fighting but we simply haye have enough stuff on hand to knock the germans out instantly nobody is to blame for this I 1 think our army is doing wonderfully both in fighting with what we have and in getting more here but we are fighting an army as tough in spirit a as sours ours vastly more experienced and more easily supplied 4 our losses in men so far are not appalling by any means but we are losing men the other day an american ship brought the first newspaper from home I 1 had seen since the occupation and it said only 12 men were lost in t taking a king oran the losses in fact were not great but they were a good many times 12 wounded to england most of our convalescent wounded have been sent to england some som e newly arrived americans feel that if more of the wounded were sent home it would put new grim vigor into the american people we arent the sort of people from fro whom wounded men have to be colic concealed baled 4 the biggest puzzle to us who are on the scene Is 11 our policy of dealing with axis agents and sym sympathizers in north africa we have taken into custody only on ly the most out and out axis agents such as the germ german armistice enss missions ns and a few others that done we have turned the authority of arrest back to the french the procedure is that we investigate and they arrest As it winds up we investigate period our p policy is still appeasement it stems stem s from what might be c called ailed the the national hodgepodge of F french rench emotions frenchmen today think and feel in lots of different directions we moved softly at first in order to capture Is as many french hearts as french square are miles now that phase Is over we full swing are here in we have left in office small most ol of the try fry officials official put there germans by the before w we e came we permitting permit are tint fascist 90 societies cletie to 10 to ex exist actual alpin ling continue has been stopped but there Is ai sabotage the loyal french see this and wonder what manner of people are they are used to force and e ex hect us to use it against the corn mon enemy which includes th li french nazis our enemies ener see litt it laugh and call us soft both sides are puzzled by a coun try at war which still run loose to work against it there are an astonishing burn nurn number of axis sympathizers among the french in north africa not a majority of course nut but more than you bowld bowd imagine this in itself is a great puzzle purzle to me I 1 cant fathom the thought processes of a frenchman who prefers german victory and perpetual domination rather than a temporary occupation resulting in eventual french freedom but there are such people ant and they are hindering us and we here think you folks at home shoula know three things that the going will be tough sini am probably long before we havi cleaned up africa and are read to move to bigger fronts that tin french are fundamentally us but that a strange illogical illo gica ca stratum is against us and that pui fundamental policy still is one a soft gloving snakes in our midst 1 nurses are tops the Ami american rican nurses over her hen and arid there are lots of thern them bavi turned out just as you would expect wonderfully army doctors and patients too are unanimous in their praise to foi them doctors tell me that in tha first rush of casualties they weri wen calmer than the men one hospital unit had a nurse the were afraid of she had seem neurotic and hysterical on the wal wa down the head doctor detailed an other nurse just to watch her al through the hectic first hours a tending the wounded but he needa have he admits now she was thi calmest of the lot the head of 0 one hospital a colonel who was a soldier in the last war worked in the improvised hospitals set up at arzow abow to 10 tend the freshly wounded he says not a soul in the outfit cracked up or got flustered youre so busy you dont thin about its being horrible he says you arent yourself actually yoi seem to become somebody else aru am after its over youre thrilled by it gosh I 1 hope im not stuck in I 1 base hospital I 1 want to get on 0 the front 1 the carolina nurses of the aaion hospital about which ive bee writing have taken it like soldiers sol for the first 10 days they had to livi liv like animals even using ditches for toilets but they neve neva i complained at this tent hospital one nurse I 1 always on duty in each of 21 men she had medical orderlies ti help her in bad weather the nurse nursa wear army overalls but col rollin hollin bauchspies the hospital commandant wast want them to put on dresses once to in I 1 while for he says th the effect on thi th men is astounding the touch of femininity th knowledge that a woman is around gives a wounded man courage an am confidence and a feeling of security and the more feminine she looks the better only about of the hospitals TO patients are wounded men th others are just sick with ordin ordinal arl things such as flu appendicitis sp sprains rains got a whole of mumps and a few ew cases 0 s malaria and dysentery at the far end of the bisp hospital ital behind an evil looking barricade a 0 barbed wire is what cobol colonel ael bauch baucan spies calls casanova there are soldiers with ven generea ergil disease ay iy the barbed wire tor for asked try ta 0 Vs 96 out anyhow I 1 its if just to make them their feel eel li W heel eels the colonel said ii |