USE OF WEAPON OF SURPRISE

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 116, 10 February 1941, Page 7

USE OF WEAPON OF SURPRISE

British Generals’ Skill UNEXPECTED BLOWS

(British Official Wireless.) (Received February 9, 9.10 p.m.)

RUGBY, February 8.

The skill with which Generals Wavell, Wilson and O’Connor have been able to make use of the weapon of surprise throughout the Libyan campaign is commented upon by military experts here. They recall Marshal Graziani's original dispatch in which he said that, when the Army of the Nile made its first attack there had been no element of surprise as everybody foresaw its probability. Yet at the first blow the Italians in Nibeieva, an outpost of Sidi Barrani, were taken completely by surprise at the unexpected appearance of British forces and were overrun.

The next move was at Bardia, where there was no chance of a similar surprise, as the Italians knew they were surrounded and there was obviously going to be an assault. Here the surprise was when, after the usual artillery preparation, the troops attacked somewhere else. Tobruk provided a different task with its much wider perimeter, but here again the blow fell from an-un-expected direction and the town was taken.

Finally, Benghazi fell through the surprise of a forced march and the tremendous speed with which the Britisli forces moved.

An interesting comparison is to be found in the figures for similar campaigns. Germans advancing through country which was well roaded and was full of food and petrol took 24 days for nearly 200 miles from Sedan to Dunkirk, averaging nine miles a day.

General Allenby in 1918 advanced 340 miles from Nablus to Aleppo in 38 days—again about nine miles a day. General Wavell has advanced 450 miles in 57 days on his own petrol and no water, fte also had the “hold up” of five battles on the way. His average also was about nine miles a day.