DESERT STORMS

Grey River Argus, 24 November 1942, Page 5

DESERT STORMS

ALLIED CAPTURES AT BARCE No Enemy Stand Yet [British Official Wireless] RUGBY, Nov. 22. The weather continues very bad over the zone of operations in Libya and pilots even report seeing snow over the retreating Germans, according to messages from the Middle East. Nevertheless it was revealed at R.A.F. Headquarters _ to-day that for almost a week small fighter forces .-.omplete with ground staff, carried out a series of brilliant operations far behind the enemy lines. It must have been a disconcerting puzzle for the enemy when they found their supply lines being ground strafed by single-engined machines on the road far south of Benghazi, at a stage when they would not have expected any single engined aircraft to be within range. A fleet of transport planes and ground convoys was used to make this sudden thrust at the enemy rear. The whole operation which lasted several days, was guarded on the ground by an experienced R.A.F. Armoured Car Company. After establishing an emergency landing ground, these fighters appeared over the roads far to the enemy’s rear, strafing columns of unsuspecting vehicles, which imagined they were retreating in perfect safety. More- than 100 vehicles were destroyed and probably twice that number damaged.

It is now disclosed that when the general enemy retreat began, an Italian Fascist Youth column which had been occupying Siwa Oasis, also retreated, but before long were overtaken by R.A.F. fighter squadrons, which attacked deep in the desert, and so severely mauled the column, it must have been almost wiped out. To-day’s Cairo communique says: “Yesterday our forward tropps were again in contact with the enemy in the neighbourhood of Agedabia. At. Barce they took some prisoners and at Benghazi released some Allied prisoners, mostly Indian troops.” Reporting air operations a British Cairo communique says: On Saturday our heavy bombers atacked Tripoli, the targets being shipping and harbour facilities. Direct hits were scored on moles and warehouses, causing explosions and fires. A partially sunk merchantman in the harbour was seen to be on fire. Bad weather hindered flying over Cyrenaica yesterday. Air force squadrons are already established on a series of landing grounds near Derna,” says a Cairo message. “Ahead of the whole of the advancing Allied air forces have travelled small bodies of experts whose job is to clear landing grounds and make them serviceable. They have had to deal with mines, crashed aircraft and booby-traps and their work has been of such a high order that the advance of the Allied air forces has never been hindered.

“Within the last . few days Allied fighters have taken a heavy fol] of the large transport aircraft which the enemy is using in a desperate effort to keep his retreating forces supplied with badly needed petrol. In one day seven Junkers 52’s were destroyed in the air and three on the ground, and more than a score of miscellaneous aircraft damaged by ground strafing. M'ost of these were large transport-carriers loaded with petrol. South African squadrons secured the biggest bag on this occasion, shooting down six Junkers 52’s. One the same- day they destroyed three Junkers on the ground and damaged a number of Messerschmitt 109’s and Heinkel Ill’s on the ground.” A Cairo despatch to London says: Heavy bombers of the American Air Force carried out an effective raid on the harbour and shipping facilities at Tripoli yesterday. The attack was carried out in two waves. The first, consisted of nine Liberators and the second of eight. The first wave scored a direct hit on a warehouse and other hits were observed on the mole and a merchant ship in the harbour. The pilots of the second wave reported a merchant vessel was ablaze and partially sunk. The second wave started two fires, one of which was apparently ammunition. A Cairo message says: While there is no indication so far that Rommel is making preparations to fight a major defensive action at Agheila, this is still regarded as a distinct possibility. Spasmodic contact with the enemy continued yesterday by Allied forward troops in the Agedabia area. More- prisoners were taken at Barce. The weather is still bad. The remarkable co-ordination between the advance Allied Air Forces units apd the ground pursuit forces, is shown in the fact that Allied aircraft are now patrolling territory west of Benghazi, over "which the enemy ground and air forces are withdrawing. They are using landing grounds which only a few days ago were bases for enemy squadrons. As the Eighth Army marches forward it finds the air striking force, moving step by step with it and maintaining the fight as a dual effort by ground and air forces. At the same t.im e the- Luftwaffe is retreating so fast and has thrown away so much gear, • that it is scarcely fighting any sort of a rearguard action. Yesterday not a single enemy aircraft was seen in the forward zones.

Benghazi harbour is unrecognisable after repeated Royal Air Force bombings, according to a Royal Air Force pilot who has returned to Cairo. There is a 60-foot gap along the eastern arm of the outer mole, and another great gap on the western end of the southern mole. The pontoon bridge at the extreme end of the central mole has received direct hits, and a ship in the harbour has been burning for four days. The oil depot tanks have been demolished. There has been no great change in the town itself.

Axis Lack of Petrol MANY VEHICLES AND PLANES LOST. (Rec. 1.0) LONDON, Nov. 23. Between Barce and Giovanniberta, Axis forces lost 165 vehicles of which 85 were undamaged, but had to be abandoned when the enemy ran out of petrol. Forty planes were abandoned at Martuba.

EARLY CLASH ANTICIPATED. Nov. 22. A clash between the Eighth Army and Rommel’s remnants is expected at any moment. It now seems certain that the Axis will not attempt more than a delaying action at Agedabia. Any fighting proceeding there, at present, is almost certainly merely rearguard opposition. “The Times’s" Cairo correspondent says: The question is whether the Axis troops will, even attemnt a stand on the narrow i El Agheila front, or mere 1 - use the| positions for further delaying tactics, i while the main force speeds on towards Misurata and Tripoli, where it is possible, it will embark for Italy. The correspondent states that the decisive factor in this question will probably be developments in Tunisia, Execrable weather continues to ham-

per both land and air operations. EIGHTH ARMY CASUALTIES LIGHT. (Rec. 5.55.) LONDON, Nov. 22. A Cairo message reports Allied casualties in the Eighth Army’s" offensive as being- much lighter than was expected. Three-quarters of the total casualties are wounded. Threequarters of the wounded will soon be ready to return! to their units. Very few have been permanently disabled.