ATTACK FROM TOBRUK

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 51, 24 November 1941, Page 7

ATTACK FROM TOBRUK

“Crete In Reverse”

(Received November 23, 7 p.m.) LONDON, November 22. The military spokesman in Cairo said: “Our rapid advance to Rezegh has split the German armoured units. The larger portion is in the Gambut-Capuzzo area and the smaller is south of Tobruk. We are now engaging the main portion. The weather is clearing and the battle is now occurring on ground where the going is good.

“Supported by many tanks, British forces on November 21 sallied out from Tobruk with the object of joining the forces holding Rezegh. At nightfall they had captured n position three miles south-east of the perimeter ami were steadily progressing against heavy opposition.” The communiques are almost ignoring the Italian divisions east and west of the perimeter. Gliders for Enemv Supplies.

Aerial reconnaissance reveals that tlie Germans are trying to bring supplies and reinforcements from Crete by gliders. The British Associated Press correspondent with the Eighth Army says that the British are employing many new devices and tactics which cannot yet lie revealed. There are signs that the soft landing grounds and the British bombing are seriously hampering the German attempts to bring air reinforcements from Crete. “We are witnessing a reversal of the situation in Greece and Crete; British now hold aerial supremacy,” he states. “One of the chief problems of the R.A.F. is to move up the ground establishments and equipment fast enough to keep up with the advance, lhe Tomahawk fighters are giving magnificent service, and their long range is proving of great value. Hurricane lighter-bombers are being used as artillery, closely e<>-operation win: the hind forces. “We are busily engaged in the job of destroying the German tank forces, and the present tank battle is the key to the wliole situation,” (lie correspon-

dent continues. “It is going very well for the British. The battle is raging over an area of 30 to 40 squared miles. “The fighting resumed this morning, though with fewer numbers as a result of yesterday’s casualties. The Germans to the east are doing their utmost to break out westward, but they have been beaten back. The Germans, however, will fight to the last tank. Our forces are holding back the Germans on the west, having driven a wedge between them. “Tlie tank forces were about equal at the start of the offensive. “The Italians hitherto have played a minor role. The morale of their prisoners is very low—even lower than last yea^. ,, The Western Desert correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” says the Tobruk garrison is agog with excitement at the prospect of imminent relief and are making sorties to harass the enemy. British armoured columns are blasting enemy troop concentrations and transport lines. Trapped in the Sidi Oniar, Bardia, Tobruk triangle, General Rommel’s situation is hourly becoming more unfavourable and may at any moment become untenable, says the “Daily Mail’s” correspondent from the general headquarters in the Western Desert.