EIGHTH ARMY

Grey River Argus, 18 November 1942, Page 1

EIGHTH ARMY

IN DERNA AND MEKILI Pursuit Kept Up (Rec. 12.40) LONDON, Nov. 17. The Eighth Army has occupied Derna and Mekili, and continues the pursuit of the enemy. A British Cairo communique says: “Bad conditions reduced air activity on Monday. Allied fighters shot down a Junkers 88 off Port Said. We lost one plane during air operations.” LONDON, Nov. 16. A British communique at Cairo on Monday stated: On Sunday the Eighth' Army occupied landing Grounds at Martuba (15 miles east of Derna a'-nd 25 miles north-east of Tmimi). The pursuit of the remnants of the panzer armies continues. A correspondent with the Eighth Army says: Present indications are that Marshal Rommel who has already received a few reinforcements and expects more by wa v of Tunis trn Tripoli, will try to hold the Allied forces in the Agheilr' region, and reorganise his troops. Even though the Eighth Army meets no resistance in Cyrenaica, it must be several days before it reaches Agheila, some 300 miles from Martuba, the furtherest point officially reported as reached in the pursuit. Difficulties of keeping pace with Rommel’s desperate flight towards Agheila and Agedabia can he realised ffom the -fact that in the last six days the R.A.F. advanced an average of 100 miles daily, occupying as they go the aerodromes left by Lie Luftwaffe a day or two before. The Germans are fighting only small delaying actions. With them are a few Italians rescued from the debacle on the northern front. All those who fought' in the southern or central sectors have been destroyed. The Derna road, on wlTich the Allied forward elements have been travelling all day is still closed .and blown up in many parts, and mined everywhere on the side of the road and in the adjoining scrubby sands. Lorries, tractors, trucks and other motorised vehicles are moving towards Agheila, while the R.A.I! ~ United States and South . African fighter-bombers are massacring the remnants of Rommel’s Afr'.ka Korps, and yesterday destroyed 83 vehicles. The road between Benghazi and Agedabia must present the same- aspect. Benghazi and the coastal area, to Tokra were bombed and machinegunned on Saturday night. One pariicularly large explosion and several fires were caused at the Benghazi port. On Sunday fighters harassed the retreating enemy in wesetrn Cvrenaica. One Messerschmitt 111 was shot down. Long-range fighters damaged west-bound Axis vehicles ; n the El Agheila.-Agedabia area. From all operations (including those : n Tunisia) five Allied aircraft are missin o ’. The* relentless hammering of the enemy’s transport columns goes pn dav after day. says “The Times s Cairo correspondent. There is no sign of an enemy attempt to rally. Allied airmen delivered a low-level attack yesterday all the way across the hilly country between Cyrene and Benghazi. Our airmen als 0 concentrated on the open rolling sand dunes between Gedabia and El Agheila, where at least 24 vehicles were destroyed and many damaged. Ihe enemy columns are now stretched right’along the gulf of Sirte into Tnpolitania. The R.A.F strafed an enemy column about 60 miles south of the Gialo oas ; s. The. column consisted of armoured vehicles, transports and guns. Gialo. which >s right out in the desert is an outpost for protection of the coastal, road between Cvrenaica and Tripolitama. Roval 'Air Force reports indicate that the Axis columns are now strungout along the roads round the bulge from Derna down to El Agheila. Other Ax’s forces have taken the more direct inland route from Tmimi t 0 Benghazi, and were last reported at Mekili. These columns are being battered from the a>r dav and night. Allied fighter aircraft attacking enemy transport on the road to El Agneila. set fire to 18 vehicles and nit at least 100 more. “Bomb Alley” Narrows, less than 200 miles wide between Cyrenaica and the south-west corner of Crete, is no more. These are 'the Narrows through which British shipping had been unable to pass without acute risk of destruction by air attack. As a correspondent broadcasting from Cairo points out, the importance of this area in the future course of the war can hardlv be exaggerated. “Fighter protection is now possible for our ships almost anywhere in the Eastern Mediterranean, and the defence and supply of Malta will be-ui-’.finitely simpler. On the offensive side, the future of Italy from the point of view of air attack looks grim indeed.” From the slightness of enemy air activity over the .Western Desert yesterday—during the afternoon Allied fighters met no enemy aircraft at all —it seemed highly probable that the Luftwaffe, excent for a tew small elements, have been cleared out of Cyrenaica altogether, and the occupation o f the whole area is now only a matter of Getting there. “On the around the whole nosit’on must shortly become untenable, if it has not become so already. Our armour is swarming round where it chooses ond mop'oing un everything left. The highly confused situation can only be met by Rommel in one way—’ complete evacuation into Tripolitana.