GERMANS’ TANK LOSSES

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23494, 24 November 1941, Page 5

GERMANS’ TANK LOSSES

Half Total In The Field ATTACKS BEATEN BACK (8.0. W.) RUGBY, November 22. It is authoritatively estimated that full}' half the German tanks in the Libyan battle have been put out of action according to press messages received in London. The Germans have carried out three separate attacks and on each occasion they have been beaten back, their tank losses being substantially heavier than those of the British—in the ratio of three to one. After the attacks, the Germans withdrew and were then trying to force a way through with very reduced numbers. The main battle is proceeding 45 •■whiles west of Fort Capuzzo with the ' \* trying to get away westwards. ■ -e initiative throughout has remained with the British. General Sir Alan Cunningham set out to destroy the German armoured forces and he is doing it. An agency message from Melbourne quotes General Sir Thomas Blarney, Commander of the A.I.F. in the Middle East, as saying that the destruction of half the enemy’s effective attacking strength means that Britain has won the land battle on which the result of the whole offensive hinges. Informed quarter, in London interpret the Cairo statement that half the German tanks have already been destroyed as meaning half the total of German tanks in the field In North Africa# A message sent from London on Friday said that the British land and air forces had already destroyed or c ptured 130 German and 57 Italian tanks. AMERICAN AID TO BRITAIN military mission in CAIRO LONDON, November 22. A United States military mission, headed by Brigadier-General Maxwell, has arrived in Cairo to take charge of all phases of American aid to the British forces in the Middle East. Hundreds of American technicians are following.