AIR ACTIVITY

Grey River Argus, 23 July 1942, Page 5

AIR ACTIVITY

Against the Enemy LONDON, July 21. The British United Press correspondent reports that the enemy is now holding an almost straight northsouth line from a point eight miles west of Alamein, until it reaches a point about 20 miles inland, where it veers slightly to the west for three or four miles before going south again. The Germans, taking advantage of the present lull on the Alamein front, have fallen back at some points, to straighten up their lines. This was •forced on them by the failure of their repeated tank and infantry attacks last week. They were squeezed by the Australians southwards, down the Quattara track between Alamein and Tel el Ester station, also by our stonewall resistance against their tanks in the central sector. Rommel has withdrawn some of his forces from a salient a few miles south of the Alamein area. The South Africans, immediately moved up, taking some prisoners, as the enemy forces, mainly Italians, slipped back. The Associated Press says it is estimated that British and Allied forces last week knocked out or captured at least fifty heavy, artillery pieces, 45 anti-tank guns and 32 tanks, mostly heavies. Nearly 500 of the enemy taken prisoner were artillerymen, clearly a heavy blow to Rommel.

The position at Tel el Ester was described to a British United Press correspondent by an officer returned from that area. “We only lost the Tel el Ester station for one hour between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. on the night of July 9-10,” he said. “The panzers crashed their way through before we had time to get the minefields and the barbed wire out.” He said that in their counter-attacks the British forces used sticky bombs which were most effective against the tanks. The Italian infantry were driven off. The station was recaptured and has been in British hands ever since. Allied forces according to latest advices, maintain all their positions. Blows are being struck at the enemy from the air and the sea. Tuesday’s British communique at Cairo said that on Monday operations were confined to patrol activity. I The main effort in the air was a large-scale attack on the enemy aero- 1 drome at El Fuka. Direct hits w;ere scored and fires started. Thirty aircraft on the ground were damag-, ed, and one Italian fighter was shot down and others were damaged. ; Enemy barges with fighter escort i north-east of Sidi Barrani were successfully attacked by long-range fighters. Medium bombers made a night attack on tanks, aircraft, and vehicles in the battle area. Explosions were caused and fires started. On Monday British warships shelled Mersa Matruh harbour works and shipping with hundreds of high ex- [ plosive shells. Buildings were blown [ sky-high, and shipping Was straddled 1 as’ the' naval guns raked the targets for nearly half an hour. Some 400 shells were fired and deadly accuracy was maintained throughout the bombardment. Time after time the targets were straddled perfectly by high explosives. A small patrol ship w'as among the vessels in the har- [ bour as the warships opened fire. Naval planes flew off from the war vessels to add bombs to the stream of shells flying towards the shore. Heavy anti-aircraft fire met the planes, but there was little oppostion to the warships. In a desperate attempt to “blind” the warships the Germans fired at the flares, as they floated down, but managed to hit only one or two. The squadron commander, before leaving wirelessed to the warships: “Nice work, but it’s a bit hot up here.” A press correspondent in a broadcast said that on Monday 100 Allied planes bombed Fuka, west of El Alamein, and-a very large number of grounded aircraft were wrecked. There were about 30 aircraft on the ground and it appears that not one of the many machines parked on that landing ground escaped entirely without damage. The correspondent also states that off the coast at Sidi Barrani, the R.A.F. spotted one tanker and two schooners, and escorting them, one E-boat, one ME and one CR42. The Italian fighter dived into the sea as soon as our aircraft approached. The E-boat put up antiaircraft fire, but within a few minutes we had the two barges and the tanker aplaze. From all operations throughout the Middle East, six R.A.F. aircraft are missing, but two of the pilots are safe. The R.A.F. attack on the enemy landing grounds at El Deba on Saturday was the strongest yet made on a desert aerodrome. More than a third of the enemy aeroplanes on the ground were destroyed, states an agency correspondent. Five were shot down when about to land. Four of these were Junkers troop-carriers and the other was a Stuka divebomber. , „ Flight Lieutenant Marshall, who led the British attack, said that when the British aircraft went in they saw 50 enemy aeroplanes on the ground. He was responsible for shooting down the dive-bomber. When the British machines left, the entire area was shrouded in smoke, dust and flames. Over Malta our fighters shot down one Messerschmitt 109. In the Mediterranean British warships have sunk an enemy submarine.