EGYPTIAN FRONT

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23740, 11 September 1942, Page 5

EGYPTIAN FRONT

Patrol Activity Continues ENEMY TANKS IN SOUTH (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright.) (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON. Sept. 10. “During Tuesday night our patrols were active over the whole front.' states to-day’s Cairo . communique. “On the northern and central sector there were artillery exchanges. In the south our mobile forces engaged small patrols of enemy tanks west of El Himeimat. “Allied aircraft attacked enemy transport on the Mersa Matruh-Sidl Barrani road. One Messerschmitt 109 crashed in the sea. Our Malta fighters shot down two enemy aircraft over Sicily." It can now be revealed that Marshal Rommel attempted a number of landings from the sea behind the Allied lines during last week’s attack. These landings were designed to create confusion by carrying out widespread sabotage. All failed, the landing parties being, either killed or captured, , x ■ ■ ■ A fight occurred jover the battle area on Tuesday between a number of Royal Air Force fighters and 20 Junkers 87’s, escorted by German and Italian fighters. The combat took

place at a low altitude. One Stuka and two Messerschmitt 109’s were shot down and many others , were damaged and probably destroyed. Only one British pilot made a forced landing. This he. did on/ a British minefield from which he was rescued. An agency correspondent states that there has been great activity in the Mediterranean between Apollonia and Solium. On Monday night a southbound convoy in the central Mediterranean, consisting of three large vessels and two smaller ones, with an escort of seven destroyers, was sighted and attacked by bombers and torpedo-carrying aircraft throughout the night. The results were difficult to observe, but one bomber claimed two or three hits on a destroyer, a fairly large fire also being noticed. Another bomber sighted one large vessel and a smaller one escorted by three destroyers. Bombs were observed to burst near the large vessel. The attack, carried out by light bombers of the Royal Australian Air Force, continued until the vessels were within 40 miles of Tobruk. Four direct hits were scored on one vessel, which listed heavily, and a destroyer,' which went to the assistance of the stricken ship, was later seen steaming in circles, possibly picking up survivors. Squadron Leader R. M. McKenzie, of Christchurch, shot down one of three enemy bombers destroyed ovev th Nile delta last night. A list of awards covering the fighting in Libya between November and April, issued in London to-night, makes a posthumous award of the C.B. to General W. H. E. Gott, who was killed in Libya last month when his aeroplane was shot down. Mr Churchill.recently disclosed that. General. Gott had been chosen just before his death to command the Bth Army. The highest foreign circles in Ankara state that Marshal Rommel, the German Commander-in-Chief on the desert front, is ill, and that the German High Command is seriously considering withdrawing him from Africa. 1 Reports from Ankara also state that the ships and aeroplanes being used to reinforce Marshal Rommel are capable of moving 8000 men a day. They add that the reinforcements are coming mainly from Greece and Crete.

EDUCATION REFORM IN BRITAIN

TRADES UNION REPORT LONDON. Sept. 9. After a lively discussion, the Trades Union Congress overwhelmingly adopted a report making proposals for the reform of education after the war, under which It is proposed to stop the payment of public money to denominational schools. It is suggested that all education should be free at public-pwned schools and that there should be no place for private schools. One speaker asked how much longer they would tolerate the inability of religious bodies to build decent schools. Other speakers said that the report would cause fighting and quarrelling among trade unionists and split the movement.

CANADIAN WHEAT FOR RUSSIA

(8.0. W.) HUGBY. Sept. 9. Russia may draw on 9,000,000 bushels of Canadian wheat or flour, under a credit agreement signed in London by the Canadian High Commissioner (Mr Vincertt Massey), the Soviet Ambassador (M. Maisky), the British Minister of Food (Lord Woolton), and M. Borisenki, the Soviet trade representative. Shipments are already on the way. M. Maisky pointed out that although Russia did not normally import wheat, the German occupation of the Kuban districts had changed the situation.

BASES IN GALAPAGOS ISLANDS

PROTECTION FOR PANAMA ROUTE (Rec. 10 p.m.)' NEW YORK. Sept. 9. The Washington correspondertt of the Associated Press of America says that the new United States bases in Galapagos Islands will give protection to the Panama Canal on the Pacific side, 1000 miles from the western entrance to the canal. Thsy also mean that the hazardous route via Panama to Australia will be much better protected than it was a few months ago. Cargo-carrying Aircraft.—The British Minister of Aircraft Production (Colonel J. J. Llewellin) said that arrangements had been made for the construction of cargo-carrying aeroplanes in Britain. It was expected that help would be received from the United States, which would soon have some of these craft available.—Rugby, September 9.