TANKS TRAPPED

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 62, Issue 44, 2 December 1941, Page 5

TANKS TRAPPED

BITTER FIGHTING IN DESERT. NEW 2EALANDERS ENGAGED. GERMAN LOSS OF MATERIAL. (United Press Association—Copyright.) LONDON, December 1. “The situation in Libya may be regarded as distinctly hopeful and encouraging,” said a military spokesman in Cairo last night. “The Germans have failed to penetrate the British infantry positions on any front.” ( General von Rommel’s remaining tank forces launched a strong attack on Saturday afternoon in an effort to break through the Tobruk corridor to the west, but the assault failed. Most of General von Rommel’s remaining tank forces are trapped east of Tobruk and Sidi Rezegh. Agency correspondents say that bittor fighting is continuing, for the Germans are showing no signs of weakening, in spite of their losses. General von Rommel is said to have thrown all his available tanks into the battle on Saturday afternoon.. New Zealanders were among the forces engaged in this action. The Germans also attempted to recapture Sidi Rezegh, but they wore beaten off.

The spokesman in Cairo said that the German tanks were supported by armoured cars and innumerable motor transports. “Our field guns and antitank guns bore the brunt of the attack until our armoured formations rushed up and charged the Axis flank and prevented an advance.

“Our infantry attacks against the infantry in the rear of the panzer divisions were quite successful,” he added. “We are sticking to our objective of hunting their tanks whenever they are, and until we have destroyed the last tank we won’t think of anything else.” The correspondent, of “The Times” with Bth Army Headquarters says that with its repaired tanks and reserves the British tank force i*emains formidable, and the relief of Tobruk lias made available an additional large force of tanks. The advantage should be with the British in the decisive part which armoured units are likely to play in the battle.

Correspondents who have flown over the desert speak of enormous German losses of tanks and aircraft. One correspondent saw three miles of desert littered with the tangled wreckage of a German panzer regiment.

A Berlin; newspaper says: “The battle our soldiers are now experiencing must be a veritable inferno.”