SWOOPS FROM THE AIR

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 108, 3 November 1942, Page 5

SWOOPS FROM THE AIR

AXIS TROOPS SURPRrSED

(Rec 9 a.m.) LONDON. Nov. 2. A Cairo message states that Axis troops who were seen at wash-tubs and messes suffered heavy casualties from low-level machine-gun fire when Allied fighters attacked buildings which were suspected to be panzer headquarters. Fighter-bombers of the Australian Air Force which attacked Bagush damaged a dozen gliders and shot up a radio station and a train, names from which were visible . for 40 miles. Fighter-bombers also swooped down on. the docks at Mersa Matruh and inflicted heavy casualties on dock workers and troops. Other Australian pilots strafed troops and transports on the Sollum-Sidi Barrani road and left numerous supply dumps ablaze. The Axis air losses included five out.of # 20 dive-bombers which were returning to base from a raid, escorted by Messerschmitts. . .'

The official German news agency claims that the first encounter between armoured forces in Egypt in the present offensive ended in a clear Axis victory and a disorderly, chaotic British withdrawal. It stated that Allied infantry, after grim fighting on Saturday, succeeded in breaking into the German positions in the northern sector in the direction of Sidi Abd el Rahman. The Allied troops then hurled in a strong armoured force, supported by another infantry division, in an. effort to take advantage of the local success. The thin chain of German "hedgehogs" was able to stem the Allied forces until Rommel personally led an attack by German and Italian tanks and infantry which forced the enemy to abandon the entire territory they had gained after suffering heavy tank losses.