ROMMEL TO STRIKE?

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 August 1942, Page 5

ROMMEL TO STRIKE?

SUPPLY LOSSES HEAVY

AWAITING REINFORCEMENTS LONDON, August 13. The Cairo correspondent of “The Times” says: “The lull on the Alamein front has lasted several weeks. Doubtless it is the calm before the storm. It is not to be expected that Rommel will dally while the rich Nile Delta and also Alexandria are almost within sight, without making another determined effort. The pause is imposed on Rommel by the necessity to bring up reinforcements and supplies over long and difficult communications. The Italians and Germans lost heavily ,in lorries in June and July. They are husbanding their vehicles and making great use of barges and lighters, which,, however, are being heavily, punished by British and American bombers in the discharge ports and also while they are creeping along the coast. The exrplosions and fires nightly at Tobruk must greatly complicate the Axis supply problem. Recently captured German prisoners show that the new drafts are either semi-trained boys or men over 40 from the garrisons in Greece and Crete.”

Speaking on the German radio. Marshal Rommel told of the ordeal the German troops have undergone in the Western Desert. He said that the battle there was exacting many sacrifices. The Germans were now fighting a defensive battle after reaching the very gates of Egypt. To-day’s .Cairo communique says that on Tuesday night Allied patrol activities continued. Some prisoners were taken in the southern sector. Yesterday land operations were confined to artillery exchanges. Air activity was on a reduced scale. ENEMY CRUISERS BOMBED. RUGBY, August 13. A Cairo. message reports the attack at dusk on August 11, by United States heavy bombers, on four enemy cruisers in Navarino Harbour, (Greece). Three were damaged. Two hits on one cruiser caused a large explosion, a near miss or hit on the second caused a huge column of black smoke, and another near miss was scored on the third cruiser. There was an explosion aboard when the bomb burst.

CAIRO, August 13

The American air attack on enemy warships in Navarino Harbour last night was carried out by a big force of heavy bombers, which found ioui cruisers moored close together. FLEET AT GIBRALTAR. (Rec 11.45 a.m.) LONDON, Aug. 13. Vichy radio quoted a message from Algeciras that an aircraft-carrier of the Glorious type, H.M.S. Argus, and four destroyers have entered Gibraltar, where there is exceptional activity of ships and planes. CONVOY BATTLE (Reed 1 55 p.m.) LONDON, Aug. 13. It is authoritatively stated that the enemy claims regarding the Mediterranean convoy battle a j ?e i exa Sfl e s?. The action is believed to be still m nrogress. The Stockholm newspaper “Dagligt Allehanda’s Berlin correspondent reports that the convoy has apparently passed Sicily, and that at least part of the convoy has successfuly negotiated the most difficult stretch. q . . ■ A soecial Italian communique largely * repeats the German claim, and says that the Italian Navy sank one cruiser and three ships. It admits the loss of 13 planes.

SINKING OF EAGLE (Recd. 1.45) LONDON, August 13. Telling of the end of the aircraft carrier Eagle, the Exchange-Tele-graph’s war correspondent, Arthur Thorpe, says: “About 1 a.m., theie were two tremendous crashes, and two more after a few minutes. lhe ship heeled crazily. Six-inch shells, weighing one hundred pounds, tore from brackets and bumped across the deck. Sailors flung themselves overboard to escape the shells. I also went over and clung to a cord floatnet on which there were six sailors, one of whom had a broken leg. While the Eagle was lying on her side men swarmed ant-like over her great red underside. Then she sank with a thunderous rumble in the thrashing foam. A destroyer soon picked us up. Captain Macintosh was also picked up from the floatnet.” Thorpe survived the Ark Royal sinking. MALTA AS BASE (Recd. 1.20 p.m.) WASHINGTON, August 13. Air Marshal Lloyd told the Press that Malta would be the jumping-off place for the coming invasion _ ol Italy. Malta was the key to British successes in Libya last year. Planes from Malta smashed the German supply lines. Later, Rommel succeeded in flying in “a hell of a lot of stuff from Crete. Rommel was now just sitting for lack of supplies. Asked how long Malta would be tenable if Rommel won Egypt, he replied: As long as the supplies get in. Asked if Malta could be used as a jumping-off place for the invasion of Italy, he replied: Oh, yes. It will be for the coming invasion.”

TANK RAID

RUGBY, August 13

Describing a raid in the Western Desert on a desert fortress, an English lance-corporal says: “We went in with fixed bayonets between our tanks and Bren carriers. We had crept up during the night, and waited for 'the first light. Isolated ma-chine-gun nests tried to stop us, but we soon had them bolting for their hideouts.”

He continued that his section oassed through a litter of a fortress to burnt-out enemy tanks, enlivened by occasional incidents, when some enemy went to ground in odd corners, but the British forces “winkled” them out. About half a mile north of the position they halted and waited for the enemy to counter-attack. “At 8 p.m., the enemy came straight across our front,” continued the lance-corporal, “firing high explosives, tracers and incendiaries, while his artillery laid down a creeping barrage. Our tanks were in a defensive circle behind us all around the fort, and our field guns and anti-tank two-pounders banged back shell for shell. Most of the enemy’s hits were scored on his own abandoned lorries and dump.” . . , Eventually the enemy suddenly withdrew. Four German tanks reattacked in the next morning, scoring four direct hits on a British tank. After a pause, our tank opened fire and the Germans started to withdraw, but our tank stopped two of the enemy machines, and at 900 yards scored a direct hit on a third, setting it on fire. Our tank suffered no serious damage, and all the crew were unharmed. In the wrecked German tanks we found two of the crew dead. GENERAL GOTT’S DEATH. RUGBY, August 13. It is now officially stated that Lieutenant-General W. H. F. Gott, whose death in Egypt was announced on August 10, was killed when the i aeroplane in which he was a pas--1 senger was shot down by enemy aircraft.