ENEMY RETREAT

Grey River Argus, 3 June 1942, Page 6

ENEMY RETREAT

IN DESERT BATTLE Suddenly Halted IS ROMMEL IN QUANDARY? (Rec. 12.30). LONDON, June 2. Marshal Von; Rommel has suddenly halted his retreat through gaps. Possibly this is because of unceasing British artillery ah'd air attacks. His intentions are now obscure. > “The Times’’ special correspondent says: “There ate no signs that Rommel is attempting to regroup his forces for a desperate counterattack.” LONDON, June 1. Al British communique froin Cairo stated the weight of the desert battle had shifted to twp gaps in minefields where enemy forces were under continuous artillery fire and air attack.

Latest reports say fierce battles are raging in two gaps, respectively 12 and 27 miles north of Bir Hacheim.

The R.A.F. in a Middle East communique said: On Sunday our aircraft were in constant action against enemy mechanised forces. Enemy opposition, both in the air and on the ground, was again .marked, but our attacks by both fighters and bombers were maintained with outstanding effect. Many enemy transport vehicles were destroyed, or | damaged, and although our fighter I effort was principally directed l against land forces, several combats I developed over the battle area. Dur- * ing these, four) enemy machines were , shot down, and others . were probably destroyed. Our bombers made night raids on Derna, Tmifni, aind starting' large fires in Derna (among dispersed aircraft We also raided objectives iat Messina. Enemy activity against Malta ,waJ9 on a reduced scale, but two Axis planes were shot down. The R.A.F. added that nineteen British planes were missing from all operations, but three pilots are safe.

Reports from British Headquarters in the Western Desert indicated Marshal Von Rommel’s initial effort had failed, and Ritchie’s Eighth Army had scored a success. British cavalry, in a desperate, tank battle, pushed the enemy tb'wards Bir Hachiem. At the same time the R.A.F. carried out a fierce strafe against the tank columns. The British United Press correspondent says: The R.A.F. devastatingly raided a mile wide northern gap through ithe British minefield. The entire Degert air force is concentrating on the gaps. One member of the R.A.F., interviewed, said: “The Germans brought up everything they had. We encountered 'heavy ack-ack and tighter opposition. There was complete chaos below, lorries colliding with tanks, and men running everywhere. We started 200 fires at |a strong point, which the enemy had captured. Imperial troops recaptured .the point after bombing, thus breaking into the enemy’s north-west flank. We saw our troops pouring in and the Germans surrendering. A Reuter special correspondent says that by the light of the full mooon, he watched a desperate rearguard action-, in wnich 75 Italian and German-tanks covered the retreat of part of the Twenty-First Fanzer J)ivision to the gap. All . night, ; .the British guns .roared. Pfiots 'Of the R. IZu.F., South African, and Australian Air Forces were co-operating in the battle of the gap. Where the gap was barely thfee-’quarters of a mile wide, the sky was often filled with aircraft, Kittyhawks, Tomahawks, and Hurricanes, which bombed, cannoned, and machine-gunned. vehicles and troops, causing confusion and disorder. The gap became a valley of dearth for over 250 enemy supply and fighting vehicles and crews. The

Germans massed anti-tank artillery to prevent the closure of the gap by the British, but British tanks, artillery and planes are engaging enemy tanks and transport east of the gap. The Germans are now borribinb and dive-bombing the Knightsbridge strong point, from which the British are sending, out tank-destroying patrols. ■A British fighter ■ pilot,. who spent Sunday gunning enemy'transport arid supply columns th Libya, reported that the whole 'area over, which Axis columns name /forward round the Bit Hacheim pivot was strewn, with burnt-out tanks and trucks. Through dust clouds, he saw flames and smoke of many fires, probably

burning petrol bowsers and lorries loaded with.,supplies. One raid was carried out by a squadron of Boston bombers, toward the close, of the' third day’s fighting. A large concentration fit enemy supply vehicles' were-feeding the defenders of an; important - position held by the enemy. The Allied forces wanted to take the position, because possession of it would divert the enemy’s supply route and seriously coriipli'eaite his maintenance arrangement. The. Bostons were called upon, and made • a crushing attack on the concentration, scoring numerous hits on groups of vehicles. . The attack scattered the concentration, and so disofgaWided' it that when the Allied ground forces .attacked the position Soon afterwards, it fell with little opposition. R.A.F. pilots have been able to keep a complete watch on the progress of battle, and to provide both the Army and R.A.F. with a minute-by-minute picture of the operations on.both sides.

Fighter and fighter-bomber squadrons operated over the battle area, only a few minutes’ flight from their bases, returning after refuelling and rearming to attack enemy transport columns, almost before the fires started by the last sortie died down. The staffs at the bases worked magnificently in keeping the aircraft almost continuously in the air. A striking success in the battle has been the intervention of the new Kittybombers squadrons. These fighters, equipped with a bomb load, have been sent into the battle. The pilots were fighter pilots, but they mast-

ered the new technique immediately, with deadly results for the enemy. Kittybombers scream down on their targets, release their bombs at almost "nought feet;"' climb away 'again, and at once revert to their I original role of fighters. The new Kittyhawk, wh'ich is fitted with a bomb rack, is playing a big part in the struggle. These machines scream down on enemy columns in a faster klive 'than the Nazi dive-bombers with deadly accuracy, and roar back into the sky to take up their role as fighters. Already they have bagged many enemy bombers.

German General Captured

PROGRESS OF OPERATIONS. LONDON, June 1. General Ludwig Cruewell -has been captured by the British. He is the Second senior German General in Africa. Documents found in his possession reveal that he returned .to ■North Africa two 'days before the German offensive, after .cdnfernng with Hitler and Hitler’s military adviser, General Halder. "The Times’s” correspondent 'on the Western Desert says: Everything gives the calm impression that things are going nicely. The Germans are gradually collecting scattered tanks, som'e 20 miles north-east of >Bir •Hacheim. It is difficult to believe this strangely over-confident -drive constitutes the entire German .plan. •The Germans usually have an alternative, should a sharp blitz fail, and carefully: hide their real strength. “It is how clear that Bardia, not Tobruk, was Rommel’s first objective. Italian prisoners reveal that •Italian forces were ordered to join up with panzers at Bardia. South lAf ricans bombed a transport -column which whs passing Bir . El Gobi, obviously enroute to Bardia. The Axis under-estimated our strength. Our artillery is not giving the . enemy time to repair tanks, so as the enemy forces -leave -most of the battlefield in our possession, we are able to recondition his damaged tanks. A Cairo message reports the Germans lost 'scores of tanks and vehicles and ’much other equipment .at Knightsbridge. It is pointed out that the enemy is certainly -not yet defeated. British armoured vehicles scored an initial victory -at Knightsbridge. The British United Press correspondent in the Western Desert says it can now be revealed that British intelligence timed the German tank offensive almost to the hour ,foretold the route, and indicated the battle tactics.

Germans are attempting to fight a way back through the gap in the British mihe'fi&ld, 14 miles west of Knightsbridge and 12 miles north of Bir Hacheim.

Enemy tanks in Libya have fighter umbrellas. The R.A.F. is reluctantly avoiding the umbrellas, and concentrating on vulnerable targets. The Onemy is making small continuous night attacks on British aerodromes and not very successful attacks on communications. A Hurricane squadron, acting . .‘as night fighters, shot down six Junkers, and damaged 12. . Flesh and blood cannot be expected to stand riiore than another 48

hours of sleeplessness, intense heat, .and choking fumes in the savage Libyan tank battle which, after five days, is blazing to a climax, said one of yesterday’s messages. The whole German Affika Korps, with the exception of a few units of the 19th Light Division, is now engaged east of the Allied forward line from El Gazala to Bir Hacheim.

The Germans are . handicapped by unexpected difficulties in getting food, petrol, and shells to their tank crews. They are making desperate attefnpts to get supplies over the minefields to the battlefield from .their base, but the British barrage has completely cut their supply lines. So far, the enemy has succeeded in opening only two gaps, but these- are being ceaselessly stormed by British heavy guns and bombers.