GREAT ALLIED FORCE HAMMERED TOBRUK

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 221, 18 September 1942, Page 3

GREAT ALLIED FORCE HAMMERED TOBRUK

AIR, SEA AND LAND Torpedo-Boats Dashed In When Bombing Ceased British Official Wireless Rec. 1.30 p.m. RUGBY. Sept. 17. Nearly 1500 Allied planes participated in the Tobruk operations. Discussing this, a correspondent broadcasting from Egypt said that Sundav night's big raid was a continuation of weeks of intensive night bombing. "Persistently, night after night, and with increasing strength, we hammered Tobruk," said the correspondent. "There was only one night out of 31 last month * when our bombers were not over Tobruk. The town must now be a dreadful wreck. It is easily the most bombed town in North Africa." An eye-witness* account of the recent operations at Tobruk is given by one of the correspondents who was present at the Commando attacks In- the air and from the sea the British forces for 5i hours gave Tobruk the heaviest pounding it had ever hiad. Bombs were dropped on Axis objectives and fires soon started in all quarters. After the bombing had ceased British torpedo-boats and motor boats approached the harbour with raiding parties on board. While the marines got ashore other destroyers which had arrived on the scene were busy shelling enemy positions. Shells were bursting everywhere in the sky. Just a few hundred soldiers were landed and dashed into a mixed garrison of Germans and Italians. Our soldiers wore khaki shirts, shorts and helmets, and were armed to the teeth with tommy guns, machine-guns and grenades. They also had hand grenades and stick bombs. Sikh's Valiant Fight A graphic story of the recent combined raid on Tobruk, including the fighting and end of the destroyer Sikh, is told by a special correspondent with the landing force. He said: "As we steamed away from Tobruk a tall column of smoke rising from the sea was our last sight of the Sikh, which at this moment was writing the last lines to one of the most gallant pages in the navy's long, proud history. "Hit and disabled by the shore batteries, her gallant crew still at the guns blazing back at the land

and refusing to desist from the onslaught on the shore batteries, the Sikh was afire, and shells from the batteries just over half a mile away were tearing into her. but the captain refused to abandon the ship, doing his best to silence the guns ashore and cover our retreat. The Sikh did not know when she was beaten." The correspondent said the Sikh and the destroyer Zulu, from which he was then writing, went to Tobruk with other naval craft to carry out one of the war's most daring enterprises. Only some hundreds of British were to grapple with the mixed garrison of thousands of Italians and Germans, as well as deal with about 1000 Germans encamped near Tobruk. The men were armed to the teeth with tommy guns, Bren guns, machine-guns and rifles, and all were bulging with grenades and sticky bombs. The snips themselves had been converted into floating arsenals. The troops and crews saw the Allied bombers giving Tobruk its greatest pasting ever as they swept in. After describing the landing operations, in which the ships' navigators brought the vessels to the correct position to the nearest yard the correspondent told how the Sikh was subsequently hit, and the Zulu despite a hail of shells which were hitting both vessels, succeeded in taking the disabled Sikh in tow Then occurred a stroke of unbelievable misfortune.. A shell by a million to one fluke severed the steel towline * h e operation or passing a new line had to be resumed. Finally the raptam of the Zulu was ordered to withdraw.

Sikh Battered by Shore Gnns „.;W' th heavy hearts we turned seaand raced away as the Sikh slipped out of sight below the horizon, said the correspondent. in' e t^K W^ he f hore batteries continuing to batter her. and smoke pourine from her, yet the Sikh refused to eivl in Every flash from the IhSre from\he a sikh e '' ng ® aSh ° f defiance The Zulu was frequentlv bomhpri ni Altogether about 70 bombers were sent against her In the middle of the afternoon she was ■severely damaged by dive-bombers Her personnel, including wounded' transferred to another ship. The Zulu W ™!f ke ™-iV ow ~ but lat ® r sank j ® East communique 1-ft i during Tuesday night our patrol activity was continued and in the central sector our artillery engaged enemy positions. On Wednesday there was nothing to report from our land forces. Allied heavy bombers attacked Tobruk on Tuesday night. Our fighters were again active yesterday oyer the battle area and two enemv aircraft were shot down and many ' damaged for the loss cf one of our I fighters. It is now known that an i additional three enemy fighters were I destroyed in the air battle on Tuc-s- ---: day. i Allied bombers yesterday conducted a daylight attack on Bengasi. : Hits were claimed on two vessels, one being set on fire. The Admiralty announces the loss of the destroyers Sikh and Zulu in the recent operation off Tobruk. The majority of the officers and men of ! the Zulu have been saved. The Sikh i was near Tobruk when she was sunk ; and it is hoped that many survivors ' reached land safely.