GAZALA BATTLE

Grey River Argus, 5 June 1942, Page 5

GAZALA BATTLE

REACHING CLIMAX Bigger Forces Thrown In (Rec. 1.15.) LONDON, J'une 4. Reuter’s Western Defier,t correspondent says that the battle eastward and westward of Gazala is reaching a climax. Fresh British tanks have been thrown in. 'Bomb-cAirrying Hurricanes for the first time in the campaign, are being used to hammer Axis columns. BRITISH ATTACK. SUCCESSFUL AT TAMAR. (Rec. 11.20.) LONDON, June 4. British forces made, an energetic attack at Tamar, six miles west of the Knightsbridge crossroads. Fourteen enemy tanks were lost. Able work has been done by the Free French forces in the neighbourhood of Bir Hacheim. AXIS ATTACK. (Rec. 11.20.) LONDON, June 4. The Axis forces have resumed offensive action on the British left, near Bir Hacheim. The enemy has continued to get up supplies through the minefield passages. LONDON, June 3.

On the Libyan front, fierce fighting is in progress east of the main British positions, where Marshal Von Rommel’s forces turned. There is considerable fighting west of Knightsbridge. The communique says that the enemy has occupied the area between the two gaps in the British minefield. These gaps are ten miles apart. Heavy sandstorms have hampered both air and land operations. The 8.8. C. observer (Mr Richard Dimbleby) says that the new thrust is determined, but it has by no means the cocksureness of the first attack.

The “Daily Express” correspondent with the Eighth Army said: — Large forces of British and Axis infantry have joined in the Libya battle.' It is a stand-up battle of infantry, with tanks swirling all around. As well as attacking directly from the east, our tanks are behind the Germans, and are moving against them from the west. This battle stretches from Knightsbridge in the north to Bir El Hamat in the south, and westward to our main line, which runs from Gazala to Bir Hacheim. The Germans in the west are concentrating pressure upon the two gaps in the minefields of the Gazala-Bir Hachiem line. They aim to make these gaps one wide dent, wherein would try to entrench, thus splitting the northerly flank of our line from the southern. As yet, there is no sign that the Germans are succeeding but this is the crucial stage of the battle. “The Times’s” military writer says: The' situation is still generally very favourably. Locally the enemy have notched a valuable point. It must he deduced that the British brigade which occupied the area between the gaps in the minefield has been forced out, and has probably suffered substantial loss. The British United Press Western Desert correspondent reports: A British counter-attack, designed to cut off ftii enemy attempt to widen the minefield gap, or even to encircle the enemy eastwards of the gap, began at dawn on Monday. It is estimated I that 100 Axis tanks are inside “the British lines in the Sidi Muftah region, and a further 100 outside the German forces eastward of the gap, divided. One force is attempting to drive towards Knightsbridge, The other force is making north, and has reached a point within a few miles of the Gazala-Tobruk coast road. The main tank battle proceeds eastwards and north-eastwards of the gap. The British are sending into the enemy’s southern flank numbers of “General Grant” and “Matilda” tanks, supported t>y artillery and sixpounder anti-tank guns. British flying columns, operating outside the main lines, are attacking the enemy s tanks engaged in protecting the supply routes. Marshal Von Rommel is not yet able completely to clear the mines from the gap, and many vehicles are still being blown up. “Free French forces are known to have destroyed 41 tanks and 1,000 motor transports, westwards of Cherima. A Foreign Legion patrol, carrying out a bold night operation, freed 800 British prisoners and brought them back safely to their own camps, with a ‘ number of their captors. The patrol also successfully attacked a German tank-repair workshop. The Legion’s casualties were fight. Seventy-five per cent, of the Legion are Frenchmen, and the remainder are of various nationalities. The British United Press correspondent dealing with . desert dust storms, describes it as a nightmare grope in a fog, worse than a London “pea-souper.” A dust blanket, churned up by the wind and vehicles, cloaks the country in darkness, wherein British and German tanks fight until human endurance gives out, and the engagements are broken off. The trodps swathed their faces against the dust storms, and resemble hooded Bedouins. Occasionally the dust lifts, revealing hundreds of tanks and thousands of trac-tored-guns, wheeled guns, and antitank .gdns, while outside the battle area hundreds of convoys of tanks, cannon, and sunn’" lorries are moving up to the fight. An earlier report said that on Monday, the British forces reached an enemy strongpoint albout 30 miles west of the main British positions. German panzer forces set out for their first attack round Bir Hacheim. It is stated in London that the new enemy movement may be merely a; rearguard action to cover the withdrawal of the armoured units engaged in the desert battle for refuelling, 1 or it may be intended to upset any Allied plans for a counter-offensive. At present the thrust is strong enough to prove a nuisance to the British forces.

Major Lewis Hastings, the 8.8. C. military commentator, in a tribute to the courage and endurance of the Eighth Army, said that the course of the battle so far was extremely satisfactory. There was every evidence already of first-class staff work, and the carefully conceived plan of the Axis had been shattered.

Outstanding figures in the Libyan campaign are Lieutenant-General W. H. Gott, who is known to every soldier in . the Middle East as “Straffer,” and Lieutenant-General C. W. Norrie, corps commanders under General Auchinleck. Lieut-enant-General Gott, who is 45, and more than six feet tall, probably knows more about the Western Desert than any other senior British officer. He served in the last war, winning the M.C,. and he won the C.B.E. and D.S.O. and Rar in 194'1. in North Africa.

Although Lieutenant-General Norrie commands a corps, he has been further behind the German lines than any other senior officer. His profound belief in individual reconnaissancel has made it a normal procedure for him to set off in a 15 cwt. truck, unescorted. He has narrowlymissed capture on several occasions.

< He is specially proud of his “mos- ' quitos”, as he calls the hundreds of South African armoured cars in his corps. A squadron of his cars destroyed one of Marshal Von Rommel’s main petrol, oil, and food depots, burnt 40 trucks, and put out of action six grounded aeroplanes. Lieu-tenant-General Norrie was wounded ed four times in the Great War, and won the D.S.O. and M.C. and Bar. The King has sent a message to General Auchinleck, Commander-in-Chief, Middle East, saying that in the first days of the Libyan battle the Eighth Army, under the skilful leadership of General Auchinleck and Lieutenant-General N. M. Rit- | chie and with the brilliant and unfal- ' tering skill of the Royal Air Force, has achieved a resounding success. His Majesty asked that his congratulations be conveyed to General Ritchie and to all ranks who were I taking part in the battle. The BritI ish troops, added His Majesty, had fought magnificently and had proved equal to every test of war. The result gave cause for confidence in what might lie ahead. • AERIAL OPERATIONS. 8.0.W. RUGBY, June 3. The R.A.F. in a Middle East communique states: Dust storms again curtailed air operations over Cyre- ' naica on Tuesday. Enemy mechanI ised units north of jßir Hakeim were i bombed, and our fighter aircraft I were active in the forward areas. I Enemy air activity was on a reduc'ed scale. A submarine base at Au- ! gusta (Sicily) was raided on Monday ' night. An Italian fighter was shot down by our aircraft over Malta yesterday morning. Three of our aircraft are missing from the operations. but one pilot is safe. ‘ The crew of one of our bombers reported missing on May 30, have now reached safety. The Air Ministry News Service stated: Enemy mechanised transport columns in Libya have been depleted by. about 1,000 vehicles. The losses include petrol bowsers, ammunition waggons, armoured cars and tanks. The co-operation of the Royal Air Force with the Army is a vital factor in the Allies’ success. Fighters, fighter-bombers, and fast bombers gunned and bombed all day and every day from low altitudes over enemy concentrations, but the losses cf the Royal Air Force for the week are remai-kably light. The enemy air force also chose this sphere of action, but its losses were’ not light. Dust storms grounded practically all aircraft on Monday, but they were in the air in strength during the afternoon ovei’ battle areas, and smashed enemy'attacks. While the great tank battle was raging in the Western Desert, a South African and British force of 150 armed .with five captured guns, was sent to man a former German position, west of Acroma. The position, which was not tank-proof, was attacked by 42 German tanks, which c rcled warily before closing in from the north. The defenders opened fire at point-blank range' and, although the tanks kept charging, they were held at. bay until, dusk. When the tanks broke into the British position the troops refused to admit defeat and after throwing grenades they scattered in the darkness to return to their units. More than 100 returned across 21 miles of desert. The abandoned position has since been retaken. It was found to con-1 tain many German dead and five abandoned tanks.