ADVANCE REACHES SIRTE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXIII, Issue 22, 24 December 1942, Page 5

ADVANCE REACHES SIRTE

PATROLS PUSHING ON.

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright.) (12.15 p.m.) RUGBY, Dec. 23. Light armoured patrols in the van of the Eighth Army had by last night reached the Sirte area, about 60 miles west of Nofilia, reports a Cairo correspondent. The sparse news reaching Cairo makes it difficult to determine how far the enemy has retreated, but there are grounds for believing that the main forco has reached the Misurata area. The Eighth Army's fast patrols, moving much quicker than the main striking force, continued yesterday to prod the enemy rearguard near Sirte, while the advance continued relentlessly. A correspondent at an advanced air base says that though the desert landing grounds are bumpy and muddy the R.A.F. pilots seem to be able to take off and land anywhere. An unusual act of rescue from the air was achieved when a surprise force of Allied fighters swooped on an enemy landing ground at Hon, 150 miles from tho Gulf of Sirte, says a Cairo message. One Australian pilot was shot down by ground fire and his squadron-commander Squadron-Leador Gibbes, went to the rescue, and landed oh rough ground nearby, and the two men came back together in the same machine, ono sitting on top of the other in tho tiny fighter cockpit.— Official Wireless.