Thousand Tanks In Libyan Battle

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 133, 8 June 1942, Page 5

Thousand Tanks In Libyan Battle

FIERCEST CLASH YCT

British Strengthen Positions; Rommel's Terrific Losses

(United Press Association.-Copyright._Rec. 1 p.m.)

r , .., , LONDON. June 7. ij IMl ?i^f l f r ; . attle , h , a 9 new heights of violence and V ' still undecided, states the British United Press corres- ) in a dispatch from the Western Desert on Saturday i.K.m. *h,ch is the latest to reach London. Saturday I he correspondent adds that the worst fighting experienced > r-n.ish troops in this war has continued unbrokenTrTfort and' which f 13 * "I?! als ° the hour,y bating of shot L .1 , th l,f e a misery. The Afrika Corps r ' '' " ,g t th f e,r utmost to throw us off the balance and salvage some sort of a victory. 8 fi.1,1 H nt K 7o tankS thr ° Ugh a new § a P through the minei> I ' Blr Hacheim in an attempt to take the Imperial troops fro ~ the rear but our force which had been attacking the c, .1 „„„ trom the north swung round to meet the threat from , .7, - 6 T ,att' e was joined in the Knightsbridge area and T(H( tank" 18 ft I" a w Germans in a total of over H )<) tanks after the Imperial forces attacked on Friday. Many hundreds are already tangled masses of scrap iron. The cauldron is smoking with many fires as our gunners pick off tanks and iornri-.. Ihe Germans got some of ours with 88 millimetre guns. Guards Hold Knightsbridge kr,da,I h r e " attl ? 3 a L re now raging, the first around the "Knightsr 3d k° X ' j r n 3 fortified slit-trenched hill held by a S i * I"?' c°u artU C , ry P r °tected by minefields, the second on outskirt s of the. cauldron, and the third south of Bir Hacheim. , T S co I rr "P° Indent1 n dent in the Western Desert says he watched the tank battle sway over the desert. The sky was lit by ys and gun flashes as fifty lorries blazed in the valley below. Whenever Panzers were within range our artillery drove them back. German long-range guns attempting to knock out our Runs hurled shell after shell into Knightsbridge for an hour, but not a man nor a gun was hit. The Guardsmen stood up in the.r slit trenches and cheered as a British cruiser tank charged a tank, which was pinned against the minefield. The German tank exploded after a direct hit from point-blank range. The British tank crashed into the wreckage, but backed out safely. Reuters Cairo correspondent says the fighting yesterday was some of the fiercest of the whole Libyan campaign. Allied armoured forces, strongiy supported by infantry and artillerv, threw bnck the panzers to a point slightly west of the positions D° m , u ,C y Btarted their counter-attack. The British push to l ahHarmat —six miles southwards of Knightsbridge—enabled the Allied forces to strengthen their position in the Bir el HarmatI amar-Knightsbridge triangle facing the cauldron. Tamar has been held against repeated German assaults aimed at removing this keystone of the British offensive positions facing the cauldron. The correspondent adds that yesterday was a satisfactory day for the Allies, but it must not be assumed that the enemy is no longer a menace, despite his terrific losses. The armaur of the enemy s cauldron positions has been seriously dented, but numerous possibilities for an offensive are still open to him.