ENEMY IN FOUR MAIN GROUPS

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23495, 25 November 1941, Page 7

ENEMY IN FOUR MAIN GROUPS

Strong Formations Split Up , WEAK OPPOSITION IN THE AIR (8.0. W.) RUGBY, November 23. Speculation is rife in London whether General von Rommel had himself been contemplating an offensive when the British started against him, in view of the fact that he was found to be so strong in eastern Cyrenaica. To-day’s Middle East communique leads authoritative circles here to the conclusion that the battle seems to be going well. The enemy forces appear to have been split up in the zone of Tobruk—Bir el Gobi—the Egyptian frontier, into a number of groups of which four seem definable. One group has been cut off from its bafce in the Sollum-Halfaya area, and can only escape by breaking through or by .defeating the British forces at present containing them. Another group is isolated near Gambut, a third is in the Bir el Gobi area, while the fourth-is betwen Bardia and Sidi Rezegh. Various;; estimates : -of , -epefny;, tank losses have been giyeh here,: but _it is only possible to follow the Cairo statements, which, in announcing the destruction of 130 tanks, comment that this figure is half the total of General von Rommel’s tank force. Mention of the “exceptional climatic difficulties” leads to the belief that the heavy rains, which would not affect manoeuvring in the desert itself, would present difficulties in the escarpment area, where they would be likely to be pouring down from the top ridges in heavy streams. One of the striking features of the present operations which has been noticed in London is the weakness of the air opposition which has so far faced the Imperial air force. There appears to haye been no attempt to dispute Imperial supremacy in the air. It is reported from Cairo that enemy air activity, which, during the first two days, possibly as a result of the rainstorms which occurred in the coastal region, and which may have bogged their aircraft, was negligible, has recently been on a larger scale. Cairo reports estimate that 75 enemy aeroplanes have been destroyed, with a further 19 probably destroyed. Imperial air losses are given as 19. with some pilots safe and the possibility of some machines being made serviceable again.