FIGHT FOR AIR DOMINANCE

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23587, 14 March 1942, Page 7

FIGHT FOR AIR DOMINANCE

BOMBING RAIDS IN LIBYA BOTH SIDES RECEIVE REINFORCEMENTS (Received March 13, 7 p.m.) (U.P.A.) LONDON, March 12. The battle in Libya has at present resolved itself into a fight for air dominance, says the Cairo correspondent of ‘‘The Times.” The British every day are attacking Benghazi, which the Axis recently restored to partial working order, while German and Italian aeroplanes by day or night dump dozens of bombs on Tobruk, the defenders of which have shown the Axis that raiders cannot attack them with impunity. For example, three Stukas and seven escorting aeroplanes were destroyed a few days ago when they attacked shipping in Tobruk harbour. Axis raids against the British forward troops are also not paying, as the enemy is losing 20 per cent, of the atIt is known that considerable material is being sent to the Axis armies in North Africa. The British are also strengthening their forces every day, and so the Axis reinforcements are not causing alarm. . . . The present situation is similar to that on the Egyptian frontier last autumn, with both sides digging in <n strong points. The Axis troops are securing themselves upon a line from El Tmimi to Mekili and the British upon a line from El Gazala southward which is naturally strong, and stronger than that held by the British on the Egyptian frontier. / The latest communique from British General Headquarters in Cairo reports that fighting patrols were again active throughout yesterday, but they reported no incident of importance. The air forces had carried on offensive sweeps in support of the land forces. AIR RAIDS ON MALTA FEWER ATTACKS MADE BOMBS CAUSE LITTLE DAMAGE (Received March 13, 11 p.m.) LONDON, March 13. Axis aeroplanes attempted only two small raids on Malta yesterday. There was little damage, but a number of persons were killed. Malta had a comparatively quiet night on Tuesday, only five brief alerts being sounded for a single aircraft. Some bombs were dropped in scattered areas, causing negligible civilian damage and a small number of casualties. Intense interest has been aroused in London in the great air battle which is taking place over Malta. Official communiques have been laconic and yesterday they indicated that attacks during Tuesday were on a very restricted scale but during the early part of the current week enemy attacks were non-stop? day and night. The enemy’s feverish efforts to control the skies over the central Mediterranean by destroying the Malta air grounds is demonstrated by the fact that in some attacks more than 100 enemy aircraft have been engaged. . Local excitement became intense on Monday when it was known that Spitfires had arrived and entered the battle and the inhabitants incautiously left their shelters in the hope of catching sight of them in action, but they were operating high up and far out of sight, as the top layer of a huge “club sand-, wich.” Below them were protecting Messerschmitts endeavouring, to fight off Hurricanes immediately beneath, which in turn were harassing bombers forming the bottom layer of the sandNot since the Battle of Britain has public imagination been so deeply stirred by the long and sustained air encounter, in which the defence has been so effective that time after time the enemy has been beaten off with heavy casualties.