GERMANS STILL MOVE BACK

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23737, 8 September 1942, Page 5

GERMANS STILL MOVE BACK

Fighting In Egypt

WILLKIE VISITS battlefront

U.S. LABOUR AND WAR AIMS

BUSINESS FOR HOUSE OF COMMONS

INCREASE IN AIR ACTIVITY , ' (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright,) r |Rec. 11 P- m -) LONDON, September 7. In Egypt the enemy riioved further back to the west yesterday. The latest Cairo communique, dealing with operations on Saturday night and on Sunday, states: “During Saturday night oU r patrols were active in the northern sector. Yesterday in the south our mobile forces and artillery continued to harass the enemy moving westwards, as well as enemy rearguards east of the minefield. There was an increase in air activity orer the battle area.” In spite of every effort the enemy failed to penetrate the main Allied defensive system at any point. “The withdrawal of the Afrika Corps was essentially a controlled withdrawal,” says the correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” in the Western Desert. “Although the Axis forces were constantly harassed they retired more or less at their own speed. The screen of anti-tank guns which the Afrika Corps left behind prevented rapid pursuit, which would have played Into the enemy’s hands.” The correspondent of the British United Press with the Blh Army says Marshal Rommel’s infantry as well as his armour guttered heavily. One Maori battalion, in furious hand-to-hand fighting, killed at least 500 of the enemy, including between 150 and 200 Germans, with probably as many wounded as killed.

■ Correspondents agree that the suceess of the British arms has been due to the generalship of the commander rf the Bth Army (General B. L. Montgomery). Week’s Fighting Reviewed A Cairo message, detailing the last week’s battle, says: “After going into the attack early on Monday morning on August 31 with the whole striking lotco available in Africa, after driving eastwards through our advanced minefields, Marshal Rommel turned north and north-east, and spent Tuesday in a vain attempt to probe or penetrate our main defences. On Wednesday the Bth Army began to take the initiative, particularly in the south, where our armoured car patrols started to come round his right dank. "On the third day two German officers presented themselves at our lines with a white flag, and a message to the effect that the enemy armour had established itself in the rear of the British position, and the British armour had been defeated. They invited the Bth Army to surrender. The reply of the Bth Army has been described as 'some laughter’—a characteristic Bth Army understatement, because on Thursday It became clear that so far from the enemy making any further advance, he was in fact being slowly but steadily cleared out by the combined efforts of the Army and the Air Force, and was suffering very heavy , lossep, particularly in vehicles.” / The enemy has suffered heavy losses, V much heavier than those of the Bth Army. The withdrawal by the enemy must not be regarded as a full retreat. He has been pressed back by the weight of the B,th Army and the Royal Air Force. -The 8.8.C. correspondent (Godfrey Talbot) states that the present lull does not mean that the fighting has stopped. .There have been no large land engagements, and air operations have been reduced in scale. The Axis is still making a slow and deliberate withi orawal and this mornipg nearly the ■Whole force was through the minefields Suwding the British positions. _ There is no doubt that Marshal iu Su « intended to smash r 1,. Array ar >d sweep through "RP* **?tes the Cairo correspondent °f.the British United Press. “German prisoners captured in the central tf,m°L sai £ sat i ust before the offenill! .Pommel visited the front Jme and told the officers and men: boys, we are off to Cairo.’ v, ® ars ‘ ia ' Rommel has been given a a° se . but it is presumed here,” nates the correspondent, “that he will try again as soon as he has had a 5 ™, a pd regrouped. The first V l6 battle is a complete foment of the wisdom of Mr V s Of the desert com«and by giving It new leaders. The

Bth Army is reinvigorated in spirit. General Montgomery wisely decided against over-optimism. We have reason to-day, however, to congratulate ourselves and give praise to all arms and all ranks. Instead of being in Cairo, Marshal Rommel has been pushed back to .where he started.” Allied Air Activity The Air Ministry says that Royal Air Force fighters have shot down 55 enemy aircraft in the Western Desert in the last six days. Allied losses were much smaller. The fighter squadron in Egypt has now scored its two hundredth confirmed victory. All these successes were gained in the Middle East, some of them in Greece and Crete, but most of them over the desert. The squadron has been fighting in the Middle East since the first campaign against the ’ Italians. Its commanding officers have included some of the most famous of all desert fighter pilots. The two hundredth victim was a Messerschmitt destroyed in the battle area by Flight Lieutenant L. Wade, an American whq volunteered for service ,in the Royal Air Force before his own'country entered the war. His personal score of enemy machines destroyed is now 12. Sunday’s communique stated: “Regardless of unfavourable weather our bomber's and fighter-bombers yesterday continued to harass the withdrawing enemy in the southern sector. Our Malta fighters shot down one enemy fighter and damaged others when the enemy attempted a fighter sweep over the island. “In the early hours of Saturday pilots of a night fighter squadron operating in the Alexandria area shot down two C.A.N.T. Z 107’s, both' of which crashed in the sea, also an unidentified German bomber which crashed.in the desert.”

REPORT TO BE MADE TO ROOSEVELT H/r. „ LONDON, Sept. 6. Mr WendeU Willkie who is on a •P«jmis sion for Mr Roosevelt, has cnmmo IS i tlng the battlefront with the » 6r °? the Bth Army (LieuJf ß J'£ eneral k- Montgomery) and Unitovi^o 1 * Maxwell, head of the C?iro States mili *ary mission in after a tour of the in ? aK * : "The happenings here niflnal* r, two or three days are sigP f they are the turnu °£ the war - 1 think the i l ? 3 been stopped.” battlefield is an obf°V n . th * ne cessity for more with 1 w * sb ever y American was ni ,i j lll6 ’ 50 he could be inspired to what ,' rwarc l e , xtra en ergy to provide ha» nee ded. Not enough material of «wf en san M° Egypt, which is one of^ most , vita l ba ttle zones. Think mn ,. n T C ? U M be done with just a few havß i?, > aer °planes, and guns. I tho ei ? to representatives of all are in the desert. Their tails efficiency and coolness of Hows? 6 ?- °L tb e Bth Army and the Air Force, and he emphasised front * lm P° r t an ce of the desert war a jded that the United Nations nnf S l ma^ e the utmost effort to turn * anks an d guns and the ships ' Mrwun ring th e m to Egypt. visited most of the un h s serv ing with the Bth Vgjfcras well as British and Dominion At Alexandria he called ran]- pommander-in-Chief, MediterTh«.rt n .f Admiral Sir Henry Harwood), tn «, e ? e t°W reporters that his visit vipu, 7 aaer t*ad given him a clear-cut ho .he war situation which would IWr u°rn C d. to Mr Roosevelt. In tu "V-nlkie experienced two air raids tonnJa „ esert . one as he slept at LieuMontgomery’s secret aaquarters, and another when going 10 the front to-day. S Channel Guns in Action.— The heavy ins on each side of the Straits of Tu„ er , Were In action on Sunday night. Boa. • bombardment was one of the hn.,! les l for a tong time, lasting an r 5" over 100 shells were fired. London, September 6.

RIGHT TO JOIN UNIONS (Rec. 11.45 p.m.) NEW YORK, Sept. 6. American labour is celebrating Labour Day by remaining on the job, keeping the machinery for war production humming. As Labour spokesmen emphasised Labour’s determination to win the war to preserve its freedom, the president of the American Federation of Labour (Mr William Green) issued a Labour Day statement declaring that in addition to Mr Roosevelt’s four freedoms, labour would insist that a' fifth guarantee should be included in post-war peace terms—freedom of the t workers of every land to join free and democratic trade unions of their own choice. “This is Labour’s peace plank,” he said. '.‘No force on earth can prevent us making it a reality.” The president of the Congress of Industrial Organisations (Mr Philip Murray), in a statement, said: “Labour to-day is in a position of world importance greater than ever before in its history. We call this Labour’s war, because the great basic issue is the right of the common people everywhere to enjoy liberty, democracy, and the opportunity to work out their destiny as free men and women.” The Secretary of the Navy (Colonel Frank Knox) and the Under-Secretary for War (Mr R. P. Patterson) lomtly stated: “In no other country has labour enjoyed so full an opportunity to win the battle of production voluntarily and without coercion.”

DEBATE ON WAR EXPECTED (8.0. W.) RUGBY, Sept. 6. Parliament is about to reassemble after the summer recess, but after four sittings it will adjourn for a further fortnight. Both Houses will vote an address of condolence with the King on the death of'the Duke of Kent, and express sympathy with the Duchess. It is thought that Mr Churchill may open a two days’ debate on the i war, and a similar debate is expected in the House of Lords. The House of Commons will also discuss pay and allowances for the armed services. A vote of credit for a further £100,000,000 will be presented by the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Sir Kingsley Wood), and the punishment of war criminals will be discussed in the House of Lords, Australian Rubber Collection. — Nearly 3000 tons of scrap rubber, including more than 220,000 old tyres, were collected in Australia up to the end of August-Canberra, September 7.