APPARENT DEADLOCK

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 136, 11 June 1942, Page 5

APPARENT DEADLOCK

SUGGESTED CAUSE

(Bee. 12.40 p.m.) RUGBY, June 10

A suggestion is made in London that the present apparent deadlock in Libya has been caused by the German tactics in forming a very large fortified area covering the place where the British minefield was originally breached. Being unable to roll up the whole position from Gazala to Bir Hacheim, and equally unsuccessful in reaching Tobruk or making progress eastward, the enemy forces are judged to have saved themselves from the necessity of a disastrous retreat by digging in on the ground they gained and creating a "hedgehog" similar to those they made in Russia during the winter. From this great entrenched camp in the barren desert they can refuel, refit, and defend themselves against air and tank attacks in a way rather similar to the British forces at Tobruk last year. So far all attempts to widen the gap connecting the camp with the main Axis territory and to make sorties eastwards have failed. For many days the British forces have succeeded in containing the enemy in the Cauldron by forming a circle of strong-points held by armoured forces stretching far to the west of it These developments have made possible a prolongation of the battle, which at first seemed unlikely. Tanks have been repaired and supplies brought up in spite of harassing from the ground and the air. Whether the mobility of the campaign has thereby been permanently affected remains to be seen. The answer is thought to depend largely on the. degree to which the British armoured and air forces can interrupt enemy supplies coming up from the westr~iß.QM.