FIGHTING IN LIBYA

Greymouth Evening Star, 4 June 1942, Page 5

FIGHTING IN LIBYA

BRITISH TAKE STRONGHOLD

ENEMY’S "NUISANCE" THRUST LONDON, June 2. To-day’s communique from Cairo reports the occupation by the British forces of an enemy strongpoint about 30 miles west of the. main British positions. The occupation took place on Monday. It was from this strongpoint that the German panzer forces set out for their first attack round Bir Hacheim. . Fierce fighting is still going on east of the main British positions, where Marshal Rommel’s forces turned. There is considerable fighting west of Knightsbridge. The communique says that the enemy has occupied the area between the two gaps in the British minefield. These gaps are 10 miles apart. Heavy sandstorms have hampered both air and land operations. Earlier messages say that yesterday’s thick sandstorms are believed to have covered the bringing up of the reserves by both sides. It is stated in London that tne new enemy movement may be merely a rearguard action to cover the withdrawal of the armoured units engaged in the desert battle for refuelling, or it may be intended to upset any Allied plans for a counter-offensive. At present the thrust is strong enough to prove a nuisance to the British forces. The 8.8. C. observer (Mr. Richard Dimbleby) says that the new thrust is determined, but it has by no means the cocksureness of the first attack. The enemy, he says, has received a severe shaking, particularly from the swift and accurate attacks of . the Kittyhawk bombers, which continually swooped down on his supply lines. . , “On Monday, in spite of duststorms, hard fighting was progressing with all land arms engaged with the Axis forces east of our lines. These forces are exerting pressure,” reported an agency correspondent yesterday. OUTPOST DEFENCE LONDON, June 3. While the great tank battle was raging in the Western Desert, a South African and British force of 150 armed with five captured guns, was sent to man a former German ppsition west of Acroma. The position, which was not tank-proof, was attacked by 42 German tanks, which circled warily before closing in from the north. The defenders opened fire at point-blank range and, although the tanks kept charging, they were held at bay until dusk. When the tanks broke into die British position the troops refused to admit defeat and after throwing grenades they scattered in the darkness to return to their units. More than 100 returned across 21 miles of desert. The abandoned position has since been retaken. It was found to contain many German dead and five abandoned tanks.

NEW ANTI-TANK GUN. LONDON, June 2. It can now be revealed that the heavy anti-tank gun which Mr. Churchill said had already done great execution in the Libyan battle, is a six-pounder whose shell is powerlul enough to crash through the thickest of Rommel’s lank armour. It is entirely British made. , AERIAL OPERATIONS RUGBY, June 3. An R.A.F. Middle East communique states: Dust storms again curtailed air operations over Cyrenaica yesterday. Enemy mechanised units north of Bir Hakeim were bombed, and our fighter aircraft were active in the forward areas. Enemy air activity was on a reduced scale. The submarine base at Augusta (Sicily) was raided on Monday night. An Italian fighter was shot down by our aircraft over Malta yesterday morning. , . . „ Three of our aircraft are missing from the operations, but one pilot is safe. The crew of one of our bombers reported missing on May 30,. have now reached safety. R.A.F. LOSSES LIGHT "LONDON, June 3. Enemy mechanised transport columns in Libya have been depleted by about 1000 vehicles, says the Air Ministry News Service. The losses include petrol bowsers, ammunition waggons, armoured cars, and tanks. The co-operation of the Royal Air Force with the Army was a vital factor in the Allies’ success. Fighters, fighter-bombers, and fast bombers gunned and bombed all day and every day from low altitudes over enemy concentrations, but the losses of the Royal Air Force for the week are remarkably light. The enemy air force also chose this sphere ol action, but its losses were not light. Dust storms grounded practically all aircraft on Monday, but the Royal Air Force was in the air in strength during the afternoon over the battle areas, and smashed enemy attacks. NAVY’S COAST PATROL LONDON, June 3. British warships and submarines and Fleet Air Arm aeroplanes are widely patrolling the North African coast to block any German attempt to land supplies in Libya from the sea. German E-boats and invasion barges last Saturday night attempted to land troops between El Gazala and Tobruk. Caught by fire from British warships, tanks, and artillery, they scattered and fled. The Navy’s “Tobruk ferry” is moving up men and supplies and bringing back wounded and prisoners. The first batch of prisoners, numbering 150, has been landed at Alexandra.

INFANTRY JOIN IN

SITUATION STILL FAVOURABLE

(Recd. 1.55 p.m.) LONDON, June 3. Large forces of British and Axis infantry have joined in the Libya battle. It is a stand-up battle of infantry, with tanks swirling all around, says the “Daily Express” correspondent with the Eighth Army. He adds: As well as attacking directly from the east, our tanks are behind the Germans, and are moving against them from the west. This battle stretches from Knightsbridge in the north to Bir El Hamat in the south, and westward to our main line, which runs from Gazala to Bir Hacheim. The Germans in the west are concentrating pressure upon the two gaps in the minefields of the Gazala-Bir Hacheim line. They aim to make these gaps one wide dent, wherein they would try to entrench, thus splitting the northerly flank of our line from the southern. As yet, there is no sign that the Germans are succeeding, but this is the crucial stage of the battle. “The Times’s” military writer says: The situation is still generally very favourable, but locally the enemy have notched a valuable point. It must be deduced that the British brigade which occupied the area beween the gaps in the minefield has been forced out, and has probably suffered substanial loss. The British United Press Western Desert correspondent reports: A British counter-attack, designed to cut off the enemy attempt to widen he minefield gap, or encircle the enemy eastwards of the gap, began at dawn on June 1. It is estimated that 100 Axis tanks are inside the British lines in the Sidi Muftah region, and

a further 100 outside the German forces eastward of the gap, divided. One force is attempting to drive towards Knightsbridge. The other force is making north, and has reached a point within a few miles of the Gazala-Tobruk coast road. The main tank battle proceeds eastwards and north-eastwards of the gap. The British are sending into the enemy s southern flank numbers of “General Grant” and “Matilda” tanks, supported by artillery and six-poundei anti-tank guns. British Hying columns, operating outside the main lines, are attacking the enemy s tanks engaged in protecting the supply routes. ' , , . , . Rommel is not yet able completely to clear the mines from the gap, and many vehicles are still being blown up Free French forces are known to have destroyed 41 tanks and 1000 motor-transports, westwards ol Cherima. , A Foreign Legion patrol carrying out a bold night operation, freed 800 British prisoners and brought them back safely to their own camps, with a number of their captors. The patrol also successfully attacked a German tank-repair workshop. The Legion’s casualties were light. Seventy-five per cent of the Legion are Frenchmen, and the remainder are of various nationalities. The British United Press correspondent. dealing with desert dust storms, describes it as a nightmare grope in fog worse than a London pea-souper. A dust blanket, churned up by the wind and vehicles, cloaks the country in darkness, wherein British and German tanks fight until human endurance gives out, and the engagements are broken off. The troops swathed their faces against the dust storms, and resemble hooded Bedouins. Occasionally the dust lifts, revealing hundreds of tanks and thousands of tractored-guns, wheeled guns, and anti-tank guns, while outside the battle area of convoys of tanks, cannon, and supply lorries are moving up to the fifight. THE KING’S CONGRATULATIONS LONDON, June 2. The King has sent a message t Gentral Auchinleck, Commander-in-Chief, Middle East, saying that ii the first days of the Libyan battle tin Bth Army, under the skilful leader ship of General Auchinleck an Lieutenant-General N. M. Ritchie and with the brilliant and unfaltering skill of the Royal Air Force, has achieved a resounding success. His Majesty asked that his con gratulations be conveyed to Gene Ritchie and to all ranks who ws taking part in the battle. The Britis troops, added His Majesty, had fougl magnificently and had proved e to every test of war. The rest 1 gave cause for confidence in wh; might lie ahead. Major Lewis Hastings, the 8.8. C military commentator, in a tribute to the courage and endurance of the Bth Army, said that the course of the battle so far was extremely satisfactory. There was every evidence already of first-class staff work, and the carefully conceived plan of the Axis had been shattered. Outstanding figures in the Libyan campaign are Lieutenant-General W. H. Gott, who is known to every soldier in the Middle East as “Straffer,” and Lieutenant-General C. W. Norrie, corps commanders under General Auchinleck. Lieu-tenant-General Gott, who is 45, and more than six feet tall, probably knows more about the Western Desert than any other senior British officer. He served in the last war, winning the M.C., and he won the C.B.E. and D. and Bar in 1941 in North Africa.

Although Lieutenant-General Norrie commands a corps, he has been further behind the German lines than any other senior officer. His profound belief in individual reconnaissance has made it a normal procedure for him to set off in a 15cwt truck, unescorted. He has narrowly missed capture on several occasions. He is specially proud of his “mosquitoes,” as he calls the hundreds of South African armoured cars in his corps. A squadron of his cars destroyed one of Marshal von Rommel’s main petrol, oil, and food depots, burnt 40 trucks, and put out of action six i grounded aeroplanes. LieutenantGeneral Norrie was wounded four times in the Great War, and won the D S.O. and M.C. and Bar.