AXIS STRUCK FIRST

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20826, 3 July 1942, Page 4

AXIS STRUCK FIRST

battle jn Libya ALLIES EOfeEsf aILEB MR. CHORCWiLL'3 DEFENCE (By TelejifapH—Pi-ess Arish.—Goßyrlltht.) (British Official 'Wireless.) (2 p.m.) RUGBY, July 2. The Prime Minister, Mi\ Winston ChUrchill, in the course of his reply in the House of Commons debate on the ho-cortifidence motion, replied to critics of thb criifeb'atgn, in Libya. In Noveiiiber. Mi'. Churchill said .that this bff'eh'siVe whs nbt,. a failure. “Qhr ,-armifes to'Ok 4b.0b0 prisbflbrS. drbvb the enemy back 400 miles and took fer'eht fortified bbsitirihs on which the enemy hhd rested so. long. Thbv drove tiiHi tb the very edge Of Cyrenaiea, and only when his tanks had been reduced to 7b or 80 was it thht by. a brilliant tactical resurgence. General Rommel set iri niHlian a Series of events that led to the retirferhent of our fbrcfes td a point, only 150 miles, further west than ..the point whence .the offensive started:” ... Teit thousand Germans, were taken prisoner in that fight, which lie was not prepared to regard otherwise than as a highly profitable transaction. . Now General Rommel had advanced, nearly 400 miles , through the dCsqx.t l and , was approaching the fertile Nile Delta. ...... .. “The full effects of these events in Turkey, Soaih, France, and French Ndrth Africa cannot yet be. measured:” siid Mr. Churchill. “The night b'efore Tobruk felt we racei.v.ed a telegram from General Sir Claude Auchinleck that he had.allmted Wriilt he belifeved .to b'e an adequate garrison to Tobruk. With jtlife defences in good order and .90 days,’ ,supplies, it was hUbed. that we bould .hold ..tne vbty strbhg frbritier position’s which had bbbri Briilt up By th'e Germans arid imprbved by durSblves from Solium, Hellfire Pass, and .through t'o Capuzzo. Strength df Armies “It wbll Be that We were relatively rib bfettbf- off iri the middlfe bf May than iri March 8r ApHl. HtfWevfer, the armies iri the desert in tne middle 'of Mriy Were aboht .100,000 a side. We had 100,000 and the erieiriy 90,000, including oVer 50,000 Germans: W 6 had superiority in nuiribers of tanks bf, perhaps, seven to five. We had Superiority in artillery of nearly eight t’o five, iheludihg ih our artillery several regiment's with the latest fbrm of gun, a howitzer Which throws a 551 b. projectile 20;000yds. Thb re were other artillery weapons of which it .is impossiblb to speak which were also available. It is, therefore, Untrue that we had to rite'e Hid enefny’s 50-Pbunder gun with a 25-pounder, but the 25-uoUhder is ohe of the finest guns in Europe hhd a perfectly new Weapon. ‘‘lt is trUfc that the erieiriy by hife tactical use Of the 88 rriuri. antiairbraft grin converted it to a different purpose and his anti-tank weapon had a decided advantage; but this became apparent only as the battle proceeded. , “Our army enjoyed throughout the battle and enjoyed, to-day cupbribrity in the air. Dive-bombers had played a,.prominent part at Bir Akheiiri and Tobruk, but it Was riot .trrie thrit they should be . regarded as decisive 1 or a massive factor iri this Battle. | Lastly, we had better and shorter lines bf communications. . we, ..therefdrb. Were entitled to feel confidence in the result of.the offensive undertaken by us. This would have been undertaken in the early days .bf . June if the enemy had not struck first. Reinforcement of Middle East “When .Ihis preparations, for an i offensive became plainly visible, it was decid’ed;’ i think rightly,- to.await the attack on our fortified positions and then deliver a counter-stroke iv the greatest possible strength,” said Mh Churchill,, >. , ... lifrr. Churchill gave further figures of the. reinforcement, of the Middle East .during the past... tWo y’ears. Frbm Britain, the Empire, Allies and, to a lesser extent, the United States, there had been sent to the Middle ' East during the, past twp.-years over 950.000 men, 4500 tanks, and 0000 aircraft. Extreme exertions had b'e'eh made by the Government .tp strbrigtlVeh and irihihtairi the Middle 'tiib cbnti-hl jdif|6tion df the. war is concerhted,.. I fay with some conflcVerice that we have not failed in the exertions .triad? orJn the bftergY We havb shbwn, declared Mr. Churchill Discussing thfe difficulties of produbtion arid design of tanks in the concluding stands bf his .speech; Mr. ChUr'chill said it Wgs quite vvhong to say that thb Matilda, Cruiser and Valbritirie tririks Wbre useless. They had done great service ahd were still bf rbal value. A type lighter and faster tnrih tne Churchill tank would bf but into production at the earliest moment. TWO had been sent to Egypt to be desert tested, but none had bbeh used against the ehehiy. Mi*. Churchill said that most of the air marshals thought little of diveboiribers-. In any casb, they had to build fighters to protectßritam against the blitz. He announced that thousands bf Irahspbrt plaiies had been built at the expense of bomber construction, although bombers were helping to win the War, because the German citizens “could riot take it.