SUCCESSES IN LIBYA

Greymouth Evening Star, 5 June 1942, Page 5

SUCCESSES IN LIBYA

BRITISH REPULSE ATTACK AXIS TANK & PLANE LOSSES ’ LONDON, June 4. A British penetration six miles west of the main tank battle in Libya is reported to-day. To-day’s Cairo communique says:: “On Tuesday our armoured forces drove the enemy out of a strongpoint about six miles west of Knightsbridge. The enemy is known to have lost at least 14 tanks. “Another attack on our positions at Bir Hacheim developed yesterday. Italian troops and German tanks approached, but the attack was not pressed home. Our columns attacked the enemy in the rear. A large number of Stukas also attacked Bir Hacheim, but they were successfully engaged by our air forces.” It was announced yesterday that the enemy had succeeded in occupying a 10-mile stretch between the gaps in the British minefields, thus enlarging his bridgehead and enabling him .to bring up supplies to maintain his tanks on the inside, to the east of the British positions. Counteracting this is the British occupation of an enemy strongpoint 30 miles west of the main positions From here British forces can sally out and harass the German supply route, and this is now taking place. The view is expressed in London that the taking of this strongpoint will make the British attacks much more effective. To the east of the main British forces there is fighting in an area of 10 miles between Knightsbridge and the gaps. Axis units fiercely attacked Bir Hachiem all day on Tuesday, but failed to make an impression, and Free French forces in the Bir Hacheim area have repulsed another Italian attack. A British officer in Alexandria has told a story of the operations of a famous tank regiment in the desert battle. In two days it fought up to 100 German tanks. The British and German tanks gyrated in the sand, shelling one another. One group oi tanks, which he described as the “Marx Brothers,” would come in against the British, and a short time later they would be retreating again. The officer, said that tank warfare was taking on more and more the aspects of naval warfare. He added that the enemy still had plenty of punch. Reuter’s Western Desert correspondent says that the battle eastward and westward of Gazala is reaching a climax. Fresh British tanks have been thrown in. Bomb-carrying Hurricanes for the first time in the campaign, are being used to hammer Axis columns. VIOLENT SANDSTORMS. RUGBY, June 4. A Cairo communique states: At the last light on June 2, our armoureu forces drove the enemy from Tama, a strongpoint six miles west of Knightsbridge. The enemy lost at least 14 tanks in this engagement.

Another attack on our positions at Bir Hachiem developed yesterday. Italian troops and some German tanks approached our positions, but tne attack was not pressed home. Our columns in the neighbourhood at tacked the enemy in the rear. A large number of Stukas also attacked Bir Hachiem. They were successfully engaged by our forces, which shot down seven of them. Maximum support was given to our land forces from the air.

The Libyan situation, as viewed authoritatively in London, is that the British are attacking and embarrassing the supply system, far in the rear, which feeds the enemy forces, who penetrated the British position between Gazala and Bir Hakeim. Very violent sandstorms continue. The Allied troops at the south end of the battle area are mostly Free Frenchmen, including at least one battalion of the Foreign Legion, which is now composed of about eight-five per cent. Frenchmen. STRUGGLE In’ THE GAP. (Rec. 11.50 a.m.) LONDON, June 4. The Germans are fighting back hard in the Libyan battle, and are making obstinate attempts to capture Bir Hacheim. Rommel is apparently hoping to roll up the Eighth Army’s left flank, and then to renew the drive towards Tobruk. The Germans are now using biggercalibre cannon to hold off the Imperial tanks and field-guns, which attempted to close the gap through the minefield.

Imperial troops captured an 30 millimetre cannon, the most-power-ful piece of field artillery, mounted on its own tractors, which the Germans have yet used in Libya. The 21st Panzer Division, after the arrival of bigger guns, withdrew from the gap. It is now covering the regrouping of the Axis forces around Rotundasegnali, and is also sending out scouting patrols against the British columns which are raiding Axis supply columns between the gap and Rotundasengnali. Throughout the day, Empire airmen attacked the Italians and Germans in the gap. A squadron commander stated: “We ferried between the aerodrome and the gap all day. Bombs mangled men and machines, and the gap became an inferno, littered with smoking clumps of vehicles. The enemy columns thinned out as we tore great holes in them with bombs, cannon, and machinegun. We attacked from a low level, while British and German fighters fought above us.” AERIAL ACTIVITY. RUGBY, June 4. An R.A.F. Middle East communique reports: Our fighters were heavily engaged throughout yesterday in the Bir Hacheim area. Concentrations of enemy mechanised units south of Bir Hacheim were effectively bombed and machine-gunned from low levels. Numerous vehicles were damaged or set on fire.

Night-bombing raids were made on Derna and Tmimi landing-grounds, while on Tuesday night objectives at Pantellaria and Cagliari were bombed. Eight of our planes are missing from all operations, but one pilot is safe, while one aircraft and also another pilot reported missing earlier in the week are now known to be safe. SOUTH AFRICAN FORCES. DURBAN, June 3. The Prime Minister of South Africa (General Smuts) announced that the two South African divisions in North Africa were being converted into tank divisions. “The South Africans will remain in North Africa until Africa is cleared,” he said. “We are strong enough to look after the defences of South Africa.

“We are organising our defences under a Coastal Command and an Inland Command. Equipment is being made available for land, sea, and air defences to repel any attack.” General Smuts said that MajorGeneral de Villiers has been appointed to the South African Coastal Command. “The man who took Bardia, Tobruk, and Halfaya ought to be good enough for you,” he said. Although the battle is by no means over, General Smuts, addressing British troops in Durban, said that he had no doubt about the result. The enemy, instead of continuing the march into Egypt, as planned, had been pinned down in the desert. “We begin to see the outcome of the issue, and are much heartened,” he declared.