Libyan Desert Warfare Now Entering New Phase

Manawatu Times, Volume 65, Issue 187, 9 August 1940, Page 7

Libyan Desert Warfare Now Entering New Phase

LONDON, August 7. It id authoritatively stated iu London that there is no information th2t any Italians have crossed the Libyan frontier, though they are obviously right up to the frontier. Undoubtedly there is a biggish Italian concentration, probably two divisions, in the Bardia area, to which only a small British mobile force is opposed. Military circles in London, commenting on the official statement that the first phase of the operations in the Western Desert, during which a small British mobile force completely dominated the eastern frontier of Libya in the face of greatly superior Italian forces, is finishing, observe that the phase lasted a good deal longer than expected. France’s capitulation, removing the danger on the Libyan western frontiers, might have been followed by an immediate attack. Whether the Italian attack will develop at once is a matter for conjecture, but the latest Cairo advices are that all is quiet on the frontier and that the only soldiers who have crossed the frontier arc one general and 818 other officers and men—all as prisoners taken in the first phase. Italian bombers raided Haifa, Palestine, this morning. The damage and casualties arc believed to be slight. An official announcement stated: ‘ ‘Australian troops were in action durine the Haifa air-raid. They suffered no casualties.” t communique issued at Cairo describes' the raid on Haifa. Lnemy aircraft,” it says, “again raided Haifa. A number of bombs were dropped, nearly all falling harmlessly into the sea or on waste ground. No bombs fell on the town. The military casualties were nil and the civilian casualties under ten. The antiaircraft defences came quickly into action and opened heavy fire on the raiders.” An official communique issued at Nairobi, Kenya, states: "Two enemy aircraft bombed Wajir without success. They were pursued y our fighter aircraft, which registered hits on one enemy machine. Both raiders escaped in the clouds.”