British Land, Sea and Air Bombardment

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 2, 3 January 1941, Page 7

British Land, Sea and Air Bombardment

ARMOURED*CAR UNITS WITHIN TEW MILES OF TOBRUK LONDON, Jan. 1. The latest Cairo communique states that the heavy artillery bombardment of Bardia continues and that there have ibeen heavy attacks by British bombers inside the fortified zone. Italian prisoners have been taken inside the perimeter of the Bardia defences. The defences are being subjected to c naval as well as a land oombardment. British patrols have been operating more than 70 miles inside Libya for the past two days, reports Reuter’s correspondent in the Western Desert. An armoured-car patrol penetrated a few miles southward of the Tobruk sector, and spent the day observing the defences. An important aerodrome was found deserted, and the patrol surprised an Italian detachment, which fled. The Cairo correspondent of the London Daily Mail says that many of the captured Italian officers declared that Marshal Graziani intends to make a big stand at Tobruk, for which reason Bardia has been thrown to the wolves. Graziani is now facing the problem of guarding Libya’s western frontier more strongly than ever. Latest information discloses tnat me Bardia garrison consists of the remnants of four divisions, numbering ! 20,000 men. The town’s defences consist of 40 forts linked up by barbed wire with an anti-tank ditch 16 feet Wide. Each fort holds 30 to 40 men. The London Daily Mail’s correspondent at Cairo says that the British commanders are reckoning with the possibility that the defenders will realise the hopelessness of the position and surrender in time. As the days pass end the big attack is not launched, the defenders must know that it will be the more shattering when it comes. Once daily says the correspondent, the Italians send out what the British have dubbed “the flying circus.” It consists of about a dozen bombers escorted by a crowd of fighters. It . makes a stately demonstration flight ’ round Bardia and drops a few bombs j and retires to Tobruk, but the circus 1 has been noticeably more nervous and less stately in the last few days because of the more intensified British groundfire. The latest German demands against Vichy and General Weygand’s continued presence in Africa have seriously complicated the Italian plans. British salvage squads are working day and night collecting, classifying and repairing captured vehicles. Hundreds •re still lying in the desert, many of them bearing the slogan “Alexandria }jy Christmas.” Groups of prisoners continue to straggle in, most of them hoarsely crying for water. A Middle East R.A.F. communique ■tates: ‘ * Enemy troops and motor transport concentrations and military stores in and to the west of Bardia were heavily attacked by R.A.F. bombers yesterday. Several attacks were made and on each occasion our bombs feh within the target area. Our fighters Were active throughout the day, but no contact was made with the enemy. One Cnemy aircraft was seen burning on the ground.