NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 134, 3 December 1941, Page 9

NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

LIBYAN BATTLE

VARYING FORTUNES

TOBRUK "CORRIDOR"

The news . today illustrates the varying* fortunes of war, in which plans may be upset at any moment by the clash of forces. There must be losses as well as gains in every hard-fought struggle. In the Mediterranean the Navy has again dealt a blow at enemy supplies to Libya, but there have been two naval losses, both suffered by the Australian Navy—that of the cruiser Sydney in a duel with a German surface raider in which both sank, and that of the sloop Parramatta. torpedoed on escort duty. The Tobruk corridor at Sidi Rezegh has again changed hands. The whole battle in Libya must be one of the queerest in military history. Here is a block of country, a broad peninsula jutting into the Mediterranean, 300 miles wide from east to west —Sollum to the gulf of Sirte —and less than 100 from coast to sheer desert, north to south, the scene of simultaneous conflicts large and small. The British Imperial forces —the Bth Army —have sent a flying column across the desert from east to west at the base of the peninsula and this has reached the Gulf of Sirte and the only line of communication between Cyrenaica and the rest of Italian North Africa, represented by the colony and port of Tripoli. Thus, theoretically, Cyrenaica is cut off by land from the west: Sea communication with Italy and Greece is harassed to a degree by the operations of the British Navy, which must have destroyed the bulk of supplies to the Axis forces in Libya. Question of Supplies. _ That is the broad picture of the situation in Cyrenaica as a whole. It is largely, though not completely, isolated, and must depend for supplies to an increasing extent on what can be brought by air. But it is still a large country, and it is impossible to esti-i mate the total Axis forces—German and Italian—within its limits^ or to know whether they can be reinforced and supplied. The general British plan of campaign was to enter Libya on the desert side of the peninsula, by passing the coastal fortifications at Sollum, Halfaya, Capuzzo.1 Sidi Omar, and Bardia, and linking up with the Bri- ( tish garrison at Tobruk, some 70 miles west of the Egyptian frontier, thus enclosing a large area of Axis territory and the front-line Axis forces. What proportion these bore to the total Axis forces in Libya is uncertain; it might have been two-thirds, three-quarters, possibly only a half. It was also part of the plan to break up the Axis forces in this eastern area—east of Tobruk— by subsidiary thrusts from the main British line of advance penetrating through to the coast. It is one of these thrusts that the New Zealanders have "spearheaded" through Capuzzo, Bardis. Gambut, finally reaching Tobruk from the eastern side, after the main thrust headed by the South Africans from the south had been stopped short within a few miles' of making contact with the Tobruk garrison. Rommel's First Aim. Obviously, it must have been J the j prime object of General Rommel commanding the German -panzer divisions i to' prevent the linking up of the advancing British columns with Tobruk, which would have meant his encirclement and doom. Therefore, after a vain attempt to break the British line of communications at the frontier, he has concentrated all his efforts and forces on breaking the link with Tobruk while it was still weak arid on ' joining ,up with the Axis forces in the rest of Cyrenaica to the west. In this attempt he had the advantage of inner lines with shorter distances to travel. Probably, the Axis forces also have a better knowledge of the country in which they have had full control since the reconquest nearly nine months ago. What Next? v Rommel has at least temporarily succeeded in breaking the Tobruk corridor to the south,. and now holds Sidi Rezegh and Bir el Hamed, the two places fought over for days. What the next move will be is difficult to predict. It may be that the German will gather up all his surviving forces that are free to move and try to beat a retreat out of the area east of Tobruk altogether into the larger and more fertile western part of Cyrenaica, ex- [ tending from Benghazi to Derna. This ■ is defensible on its eastern flank, east of Dernia, but not so defensible from ( the south. Or he may elect to fight : it out where he stands. There are ] still numerous pockets of Axis resist- 1 ance at different points along the coast ; and on the Egyptian frontier. . There is nothing to show that' Sollum and Halfaya have succumbed, and there is ' an uncertainty about the fate of Sidi : Omar or even Bardia. Everything seems to be fluid in this curious'desert battle —a soldier's battle, if ever there 1 was. ;'"..-. : The Final Issue. . \ The final issue of this fierce and dour ] campaign must depend on the forces i the respective sides can put in the field. < Can Rommel be reinforced and sup- i plied to make up for his losses in men I and material? This seems doubtful, in 1 view of difficulty of access except by 1 air, and of Germany's preoccupations in Russia and elsewhere. But there is 1 always the uncertain attitude of Vichy 1 France with its control of Algeria. / 1 Tunis, and Morocco, and its easy, short £ supply routes across the 80-mile l Sicilian Channel to Bizerta in Tunis. £ Something untoward may come of the meeting of Petairi, Darlan, and Goering on the Vichy frontier, something that would greatly increase the difficulties of the Libyan campaign. On the other hand, Russia's Rostov victory should ease the tension in the Caucasus and possibly release substantial forces in the Middle East to help General Cunningham in Libya, if that should be necessary. For one thing it is clear that the complete mastery of the air which characterised the? early days of ** the campaign is now being challenged. This mastery is essential to victory and will no doubt be maintained at all - costs. In total warfare destruction wrought on an enemy counts just the f' same no matter where. That explains the desperate struggle of the Germans ,in Libya. ,