 Nothing will stop us now. Those were the words of General Montgomery in a personal message to the men of the Eighth Army on the 12th of January. They hurried and pushed on to the west. The defense of Egypt and the conquest of Sarenaca were things of the past. The men of the Eighth Army, battle-worn and battle-scarred, already had a new task ahead of them, and they faced it cheerfully. It was the capture of Tripoli with Tunisia beckoning from beyond. They jumped decently the bombers of the Imperial Air Forces and of America. Their objective, Tripoli. Still in Axis hands, still with Axis shipping in its harbor, bumping and grinding through some of the cruelest going in North Africa, came General Montgomery's main armored forces, and behind them followed the seemingly never-ending columns of supply trucks, carrying equipment, water, food, ammunition, fuel, workshops, all the countless things needed to keep the Eighth Army in fighting trim. Three months ago, these German prisoners of the Africa Corps were within sight of Alexandria, threatening the Valley of the Nile. Now, 1500 miles to the west of Alamein, their retreating days are over, and while Rommel, their former commander, hurried away westwards, Allied fighters and fighter bombers pursued him relentlessly, raking and straffing his columns, fleeing headlong towards Tunisia, and eventual defeat. From Tripoli and Malta, were making things hot for Axis convoys. The Eighth Army passed through Tahuna, on the last leg of their march to Tripoli, only 50 miles further on. Members of Italian troops, abandoned by their retreating German allies, as usual. Small Italian settlers lost no time in getting together with our men. Onwards, the harsh rocks and sands of the desert were left behind. For the first time in months, the advance forces of Eighth Army saw trees and green hedges. They were now approaching Tripoli, the jewel of the Italian Empire overseas. Tired but contented, these men had made the greatest desert advance to be carried out by a modern army. More than this, it was one of the greatest marches in history. They had fought a major offensive across 1700 miles of sandy waste, under appalling conditions, in only 92 days. The year of the Desert War, the fighting men of the Eighth Army at last entered Tripoli, and their coming marked the end of the short-lived Italian Empire. Italy's dream was finally shattered, and with it crumpled Mussolini's cardboard empire on the 23rd of January 1943. On that day, the Union Jack lifted above Tripoli, a symbol of liberty attained. Tripoli has had a long and troubled history. It passed into Italy's hands just over 30 years ago. Since then, the Italians have labored long and hard to build a city that would be at once the pride of their North African Empire, and a holiday playground rivaling the European Rivera. But that was before the Italian government sold its people to its German masters. On the outskirts of Tripoli, a simple yet significant ceremony took place. To General Montgomery came the mayor, the governor of Libya, and the chief of Felice, to hand over the city officially to the victorious Allied commander. Driving through the cheering crowds of townspeople, his victorious advance troops had already left Tripoli, part in pursuit of Rommel's fleeing men, ready for the next and possibly final blow.