A SPARRING ROUND

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 43, 20 February 1942, Page 5

A SPARRING ROUND

BOTH SIDES PREPARING

RUGBY, February 18,

A correspondent with the Eighth Army writes that the lull in operations in the Libyan Desert does not mean that either side has returned' to the static type of warfare as was the case before the November offensive. Both sides are evidently 'sparring to regain their breath and strength, and there is no doubt that the desert will be blazing up again shortly. The battle —probably the most important which has. yet taken place in Libya—will develop as soon as either the British or the Axis command feels it has enough men, tanks, reserves, and supplies to strike a decisive blow.

Hitherto the British mobile patrols have had decidedly the best of every encounter with the enemy columns, which are evidently roving in the wilderness to feel the strength*-of the opponent.

The correspondent concludes that, whenever the time comes, the Eighth Army will not be caught unawares, having learned a lot. in the course of the second Libyan battle, in which General Rommel used every imaginable trick.—B.O.W.