Delays in Libya

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23538, 16 January 1942, Page 4

Delays in Libya

On Christmas Day the British forces in Libya captured Benghazi and drove General Rommel’s armoured units south towards Agedabia, leaving behind them, near the Egyptian border, isolated pockets of Axis troops at Bardia, Solium and Halfaya Pass. Although the urgency of destroying General Rommel’s forces and pressing on towards Tripoli was obvious, little progress towards that end has been made in the last three weeks. The Germans have fought a successful delaying action, retreating very slowly until they are now strongly placed about El Agheila. Original reports that their retreat along the Gulf of Sirte was cut off seem to have been unfounded, and British action against them seems to have been confined to harrying tactics. The reason for indecisive action in this western area is probably the need to clear up the pockets of resistance left behind in the original advance. These German positions were astride the only good road from the Egyptian border, and it seems that difficulties of supply and reinforcement, along a partly extemporised line of communications in very difficult country, have had a considerable effect in hampering British action further west. Consequently it became of first importance to clear the road. That the enemy positions were strongly manned is shown by the capture of 7000 Germans and Italians at Bardia and a further 750 at Solium. Only Halfaya Pass, a mountainous strip of the road on the coastal escarpment, remains to be taken. Now that it has been cut off from the sea by the capture of Solium, it should not hold out long, as all supplies for the Axis troops there, including water, must be dropped from the air. Once this last point of resistance has been broken, the full flow of supplies and munitions along the coastal road, together with the release of the Imperial forces which have had to be disengaged for the mopping-up operations, should make large-scale action possible at El Agheila. Action against General Rommel must be swift and adequate, destroying his strength before reinforcement makes further delays possible. The objective in this campaign has not been reached with the recapture of Cyrenaica: it lies in the complete destruction of Axis forces in North Africa, and can be attained only when the Imperial forces have taken Tripoli. ._