GENERAL ADVANCE

Grey River Argus, 15 June 1942, Page 5

GENERAL ADVANCE

ROMMEL TRYING TO REACH COAST .

British Increase Tanks

[Aust. & N.Z. Cable A^n.' 1 (Rec. 7.40.) LONDON, June 12.

Marshal Von Rommel is making a new attempt to reach the coast in the Libyan battle. Fighting again has flared up as violently and ’as swiftly as ever. •

Simultaneously with Axis thrusts to the north-east, the enemy has also launched a combined artillery and dive-bomber attack in the Knightsbridge area. It is believed that this is being- carried out with the object of containing Allied armoured units and other Allied forces that are within and around that area.

Three Enemy Columns

LONDON, June 12

In Libya the British forces are engaged with three strong enemy columns which are attacking towards the coast road in the direction of Tobruk.

The enemy attacks were made during the night between Bir Hakheim and Bir el Harmat, which is about 'six miles south-west of Knightsbridge and the Devil’s Cauldron, and about forty miles from Tobruk. The enemy .was met by British armoured forces, but full details of the fighting are not yet available. Reuter’s Cairo correspondent reports that three strong German armoured columns, on the afternoon of June 11, drove a certain distance eastwards. They advanced between Bir Hakheim and Harmat, and after being engaged, turned northwards to the east pf Harmat. where they were still being engaged last night. Rommel apparently is attempting to outflank the British positions at Knightsbridge, and a tank battle is raging southward of the road junction. About 110,000 Italians and Germans are massed in this area and Rommel may renew his drive to- : wards Tobruk, using an enveloping I movement with the purpose of cut- . ting across 1 the Allied communications with Egypt. A Cairo correspondent says that the force which met the enemy was a strong one. The shortening of the British forward lines has made the warfare more open, but it will soon become intensified, a phase for which the British are awaiting. The tremendous attempts of t’ enemy assault are regarded in London as evidence of the awkward situation created for the Axis when they failed to take Tobruk. A wen informed commentator states that the consideration of the Cauldron area placed the Germans in a favourable position to make a supreme effort to reach Tobrux. General Ritchie forestalled the attack with a frontal assault. British and Indian forces advanced on the German strong-points at a moment when the enemy was preparing to attack, and all accounts agree that the clash which followed exceeded in intensity anything previously known. Losses on both sides were heavy. The British pressed the Germans so hard that they had to bring up the Twenty-first Panzer Division from reserve, Even after this reinforcement the British were able to force the panzer column off its course by a brilliant and gallant action, which eventually compelled the Germans to withdraw with heavy losses. The British troops demonstrated their superiority, which augurs well for the future.

Part of the enemy’s considerable force has been released from the Cauldron, where it had been contained since the failure of the first attempt to reach Tobruk, states a message from Cairo. , RUGBY, June 12.

A R.A.F. Middle East communique states: Yesterday air operations in the forward area of Cyrenaica continued on a considerable scale. Enemy motorised units in the Knightsbridge area were heavily bombed, while further west targets at J’alo and Antelat were attacked in the Acroma region. Fighter aircraft shot down two Messerschmitt 109’s. It is known that a further JU 87 was destroyed in the operations on Wednesday. The Italian naval base at Taranto was again bombed on Wednesday night, and large fires started in the dockyard areas. On the same night objectives in Crete were raided. tn the 24 hours ended at mid-day yesterday our Fighter aircraft destroyed over Malta two ME 109 A, one Macchi 202, one RE 201, and one BR 20.

Four of our aircraft are missing. Three pilots, previously reported missing, are now known to be safe. A Rome communique admits that the enemy sank an Italian destroyer in the Mediterranean. Another ship of the same size sank after striking a floating mine. CAIRO, June 12. The shortening of the Allied line in Libya by giving up Bir Hacheim will enable the greater concentration of Lieutenant-General N. M. Ritchie’s forces to meet whatever fresh thrust Rommel is preparing. Bir Hacheim had become" more of a liability than an asset. It was hardly possible to leave the gallant Free French garrison there much longer without providing some relief and enabling them to enjoy a respite from continuous shelling and bombing. On the other hand, to relieve the post would have entailed an operation out of all proportion to its advantages. An agencv correspondent with the Eighth Army states that it is now revealed that the first demand for the surrender of Bir Hachim was made on the eighth day of fighting there. The position was then being attacked by air, heavy artillery, tanks and infantry, and was entirely encircled. On June 2 two Italian officers in a car flying a white flag presented themselves at the gate of the citadel delivering Rommel’s ultimatum and threatening the annihilation of the garrison unless it surrendered. General Koenig replied that he had no intention of capitulating. The next day a second ultimatum signed, by Rommel, asked for their surrender in order to avoid bloodshed. The answer was given by the batteries which shelled the enemy’s position. The next day another officer came, but General Koenig refused to see him.

Bir Hachiem Loss

900 MEN OF GARRISON (Rec. 7.10) LONDON, June 13. According to the British United Press Agency’s correspondent in Libya, the total garrison of Bir Hacheim was four thousand men. Of these three thousand one hundred, on Wednesday evening last, withdrew safely. The remaining nine hundred men either were killed or were taken prisoners. The members of the garrison when withdrawing, ran into Italian and German patrols. Th ! s led to brisk actions until the

garrison made contact with the British covering force, which moved up in the darkness.

When General Koenig and his Free French forces fell back from Bir Hakheim, they left very little material. The force is now safe somewhere in the desert. The Axis supply position will be eased by the capture of Bir Hakheim. The enemy forces are by no means safe from embarrassment on this score, as their supply routes are con-, tinually harassed by British armoured forces and minefields. The British position is eased by the remoyal of the necessity to take supplies, including water, to Bir Hakheim. A non-commisioned officer of the Foreign Legion says that last Wednesday the enemv attempted to engage the garrison in close fighting He said that the defences of Bir Hakheim were only five miles by three miles and a quarter, and it could be imagined what the conditions were like under the heavy bombing of the massed German Stukas. ‘ The prolonged resistance at Bir Hakheim caused the enemv heavy losse in men and equipment, and drew off considerable Axis forces which otherwise could have been employed elsewhere.

12.000 Prisoners AT BIR HACHEIM. ENEMY CLAIM. (Official). (Rec. June 6.30) LONDON, June 13. The German High Command claims twelve thousand prisoners at Bir Hacheim. FRENCH PRISONERS. WILL GERMANS' SHOOT THEM? (Rec. 8.30) LONDON, June 13. i The German Foreign Office spokesman hinted that the Free French soldiers captured in Libya would be treated as franc-tireurs, and he emphasised that Article Ten of the French-German Armistice Agreement forbids French nationals fighting on the side of countries at War with Germany. Under international law, a uniformed combatant is not regarded as a franc-tireur. PRAISE FOR THE FRENCH, BIR HACHEIM COMPARED TO TOBRUK. LONDON, June 14. The “Times’s” Libyan correspondent says: The chief reason for giving up Bir Hacheim was that ouimain thrust must be delivered from the “Cauldron” area. No other consideration could allow us t 0 weaken ourselves, there'. The Free French by their obstinate stand at Bir Hacheim caused division in the German efforts. Thus the. Freen French played a vita) part in the whole battle. The Bir Hacheim garrison, in the effort they expended and the losses they inflicted on Axis forces, are comparable with the glorious defence of Tobruk. It is estimated that the French knocked out from fifty to seventy tanks, and probably a similar number of planes, and also mfany guns and armoured cars, and motor transports.

All Day Air Battle FRIDAY’S OPERATION. (Rec. 9.15) LONDON, June 14. Phots of the R.A.F., Australian, and South African air forces from eight a.m. until dusk on Friday ceaselessly hammered a German column when it was moving north-eastwards towards El Adem in the biggest air offensive seen in the desert. A climax came in the evening when Hurricanes were in battle against a larger formation of Axis planes. They destroyed thirteen enemy machines. The British lost nine planes. Four of the pilots, however, are known to be safe.. The enemy formation engaged was about to attack British positions near the battle area north and north-east of Bir Hacheim. The British Imperial aircraft intercepted them. A Pilot Officer said: “When we first saw the Stukas, they were going down like rain .drops in their dive-bombing. The Allied machines hurled themselves on the formation, and scattered it, tackling the Germans singly or in pairs. Thoughout the day Allied air forces maintained a shuttle service between re-fuelling bases and the enemy column. Every vehicle .in the enemy column had an anti-aircraft gun. A's soon as the Hurricanes re-fuelied and took on ammunition they returned to attack.” The R.A.F. in its Middle East communique says: “In the Libyan battle area our main air effort was again directed against enemy armoured columns and supply transport. Bombers and fighter-bombers carried out <a series of successful attacks, causing much damage. The enemy air effort was one on a considerable scale. It included raids on various targets along the coast between Daba and Maaten Eagush. No damage of any importance resulted. Our fighters operated from dawn to dusk and succeeded in breaking up one large Stuka attack and several others, in the day’s fighting, six Junkers 87, five Messerschmitt 109; one Macchi 202, and Junkers 88 were destroyed. A number of other enemy aircraft were damaged. Cur losses on Friday were nine aircraft, but four of the pilots are safe. The harbour area at Taranto was raided on Thursday night, and the same night military targets at Piraeus in Greece 1 , were attacked. Wellington bombers successfully attacked Benghazi on Friday night, one large fire being caused near the base of the Julian Mole. “The enemy air activity over Malta on Fridav was not on a heavy scale. Our fighters succeeded in seriously damaging several enemy planes.

General Advance

BEGUN BY AXIS FORCES.

(Rec. 6.30 p.m.) LONDON, June 13. “Freed by their capture of Hacheim, the Germans have now begun a general advance to the eas ward in Libya,” says Reuters Weern Desert correspondent. There i a great tank battle . I n °Y rnn^ aS h P & along an .eighteen mile he tween El Adem and the British “hedgehog” Knightsbridge When Marshal Von Rommel struck no-th wards, British. tanks massed a S the route from Trigh to Capuzzo, with their backs to Tobruk per™ et ? ’ “Allied positions remain still intact, and Tobruk’s defenders have not yet been engaged.” . The British United Press Cano corespondent says: “The enemy c skilfully using his artillery as a cover for his tanks in the Knigntsridge area, while at the same t me a fast moving Axis striking force is trying to insinuate itself through the rear of the main British armoured strength, and to reach the coast. “The Times’s” Libya correspondent says: “Informed opinion here does 'not minimise the fact that there is a heavy task still facing the Eighth Army. Satisfaction, however, is expressed with the wav things are going. There have been extremely

heartening reports about our tank strength, and it is reported that far larger numbers of tanks were expected to be again ready for battle.

Enemy Pass El Adem BRITISH HOLD POSITIONS. (Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, June 13. A British communique from the Middle East states there was severe fighting all day on Friday in the area south of El Adem (south of Tobruk, near Sidi Rezegh). The enemy attacked El Adem. The attack was made with air support. It was repulsed. i“E}nemy» armoured troops then manoeuvred around El Adem and they wdre directed on Acroma. They were then heavily engaged by our armoured forces, and they attacked throughout the day by R.A.F. planes, considerable damage was inflicted. Details are not available. All of our positions are intact.” TOBRUK THE ENEMY OBJECTIVE

(Rec. 8. p.m.) LONDON, June 13. Authoritative quarters here interpret 'the British communique on Friday’s enemy action around El Adem as confirming the impression that the enemy is now trying to put into operation his original plan. On the first day of the present campaign, the enemy advanced to El Adem, and then attempted an advance north toward Tobruk. That is precisely what he is again attempting now.

Nearer Tobruk LATEST SCENE OF BATTLE. (Rec. 10.15) CAIRO, June 14. ' There is fighting in Libya now occurring fifteen miles from Tobruk, although Tobruk’s perimeter defences are not yet involved. According to the latest reports from the batt.lefro'nt, the present battle area is within the triangle formed, roughly, by Knightsbridge, El Adem, and Acroma. The northern limits of the area . are fifteen miles south-west-wards of Tobruk. ’ There is a lull in the fighting around Gazala. Reuter’s correspondent,' in a despatch from the front, says: “Mar? shal Von Rommel has rushed up inIfantry to support his armoured columns. His infantry are now established on the edge of the Escarpment, along the high ridge, from El Adem t 0 Knightsbridge.” The main enemy thrust is northwest, from El Adem, with the obvious intention of cutting the road from Tobruk to Gazala.