EGYPTIAN FRONT

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23748, 21 September 1942, Page 5

EGYPTIAN FRONT

ENEMY SHIPPING BOMBED

POSITION OF AXIS FORCES (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright.) (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON. Sept. 20. No new developments are reported from Egypt. Sunday morning’s Cairo communique states: “On Friday patrol activity continued. Yesterday there was nothing to report from our land forces. Air activity was on a reduced scale." Saturday’s communique stated: “During the night of September 17, our patrol activities continued. Yesterday land operations were confined to artillery exchanges. “On September 17 our bombers carried out successful attacks on a 2000ton merchant vessel in the central Mediterranean. The ship was brought to a standstill with a heavy list to port. During the same night, torpedocarrying aircraft attacked many merchant ships north of Tobruk. ’ Direct hits were claimed on one large and one smaller vessel. Air activity over the battle zone was on a small scale yesterday.” The latest attacks on shipping by torpedo-carrying aircraft in the western Mediterranean are described‘in an agency message from Cairo. A direct hit was scored on S merchant vessel. Cargo was blown off the deck of the ship, which was left listing. Three other vessels were attacked. Three explosions were observed on one of them. The official war correspondent with the A.I.F. in Egypt says:—“ There are signs that the enemy is in process of shifting his weight from the deep south, where his recent thrust was frustrated, to the direction of the area held by the A.I.F. The move was made partly behind smoke screens, in an attempt to disguise its significance. As a result, it is believed that one German armoured division now faces the Australian positions, with another armoured division further back to the south. The infantry opposite the A.I.F. are mixed German and Italian units, with the Italians carefully sandwiched between the Germans, to keep their minds on the job. > "It is daily becoming more evident that the Italians have little relish for that job. One of the Italian prisoners taken by an Australian patrol this week tried to coax the patrol to go on further to collect another 100 of his mates. He felt that they would be chagrined to find that they had been left out of a good thing. While returning, the patrol discovered a largfe enemy party had worked behind them. When the enemy challenged, the Italian prisoner eagerly announced the password, and the Australians passed through unhindered. The greatest fear of the Italian apparently was that he would be recaptured by the Germans.”

TREATMENT OF PRISONERS

U.S. NOTE TO JAPAN (Rec. 9.35 p.m.) WASHINGTON, Sept. 18. Mr Cordell Hull, the United States Secretary of State, through the Swiss Government, has urgently asked Japan whether she will henceforth grant to American prisoners of • war and interned civilians treatment similar to that accorded Japanese nationals by the United States.

The United States State Department has again proposed that the Japanese Government consent to the appointment of % neutral International Red' Cross delegate in die Philippines to whom funds could be sent for the purchase of local produce for American nationals in custody. The United States Government confidently hopes that as soon as strategic considerations will permit, neutral vessels will cross the Western Pacific, and that Japan will give safe conduct for the shipment of supplementary supplies. The State Department has pointed out that the dietary habits of Americans are different from those of the Japanese, for which reason the Government is anxious to supplement the basic Japanese rations by American foods. , *) The “Herald-Tribune” says: "Mr Hull’s note stressing the reciprocal nature of the Geneva Convention carried an implied warning to Japan that failure to abide by its terms might affect the treatment of the 200,000 Japanese internees and nationals within the jurisdiction of the United States.”