Eighth Army Driven Back To 1941 Positions

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXX, Issue 13672, 20 June 1942, Page 3

Eighth Army Driven Back To 1941 Positions

T v ALLIED FORCES WITHDRAWN TO )lAU EGYPTIAN FRONTIER

i, r j son At Tobruk Stands Ready For ja New German Onslaught

FORTRESS CUT OFF FROM ALL LAND ' U ‘ COMMUNICATION

London, June 19. ,1 Kitcliio’s main forces in Libya are now strongly en- | ( Lo eia ]y>-v|)tian frontier whence they have had to retreat :f;;; l avoid being surrounded at Tobruk. iff 1 g|j \ri n y is now split up into three groups. The main f 9 IC along the coast road to the frontier, another force if *;? s \j, AV },iel) is surrounded from the land, and a third force •' 1 "'! ]' u „ ,invjfi i*t to the south on the flank and in the rear of I nobiie in 1111 l!lM "

attacks have been made by the Axis forces since the 1K ~V rPOM-nuned Some small sorties have been made as I,: \niiy nas u - ■ IV,. ,« test our defences. I , •. ]1()W considered that all hope of driving the Germans out 'n Africa must be abandoned for some time to come. Our ■ 0ll |io\v stand almost where they were before our last attack i, ‘it the end of 1941. It! ere are one or two advantages which we now have that et enjoyed then. We have positions on top of the escarpment itl frontier and not at the foot of it as we did last year. We I 1 ( 1 t i ic . strategically important Halfaya Pass which was also I t h c Germans at the start of the previous campaign. I Our mobile forces in the desert will he able to harass the enemy mu more than one direction and may prove an embarrassment to ■"if they arc in sufficient strength. The Axis forces are restricted to a narrow strip of land along l, ieoast and will not have things all their own way. Tobruk itself has not yet been attacked. Yesterday our forces ■ • back at the enemy on one sector and destroyed seven tanks. it iVstated that the retention of Tobruk has no effect on our rations on the Egyptian frontier., (lambut, 20 miles inside Libya from the Egyptian frontier, is beileved to bo in the hands of the enemy. Enemy air activity has died down again. It is considered that notwithstanding the loss of several import- , airfields we shall have sufficient landing grounds to enable air •tivity to be maintained on the present scale. The R.A.F. has made further attacks on Tiniini and Crete. “The bad news from Libya has issued from official sources_ in inexaspcratingly smug drawing room manner, says the Lvening Standard aeronautical expert, .Major Oliver Stew ai t, but if wo thrust aside shock-absorbing verbiage and 8.8. C. buffer phrases we lit the facts hard. They are that the Axis fs continuing its project sf encircling the Mediterranean with air bases and of seizing that sea bv dominating it from the air.