DOMINION TROOPS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20628, 2 December 1941, Page 6

DOMINION TROOPS

BATTLE OF LIBYA LINK WITH TOBRUK EPIC OF CAMPAIGN (Elee. Tel. Copyright—United Preaa Aasn.) (Reed. Dec. 2, 1.45 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 1.

A glowing tribute to the New Zealanders who hacked their way through the rear of General Rommel’s infantry to join the Tobruk garrison is paid by the Sydney Morning Herald’s war correspondent in Libya.

He says: “In their drive across the desert the New Zealanders were attacked by tanks, but beat them off. For a time no supplies could get through to them and they suffered from a shortage of water, food and ammunition, but they tightened their belts and carried on.

“They were heavily outnumbered. Their communications were yery'much in the air, but these veterans of Greece and Crete took revenge for what they had suffered. “They had been ordered to link up with Tobruk and link up they did. It was one of the epics of this campaign and a glorious page in New Zealand’s history. Pressure of Corridor The military spokesman in Cairo says that the pressure on the Tobruk corridor is heavier from the west than from the east. The German attack from the west is apparently an attempt by the 15th Division to break through the corridor with the object of reaching the remnants of tha 21st Division which was more severely battered. A thousand Germans taken prisoner in Libya have been sent to vast camps on the outskirts of Cairo.

The Berlin military spokesman says: “The British forces in North Africa suffered extremely heavy losses. There can be no talk of a large encirclement .jpoiation with a far-flung objective. The Axis forces in the desert have shown that they know how to stand their ground against superior enemy forces.”