Wounded In Libya Mostly Able To Walk

Northern Advocate, 4 December 1941, Page 5

Wounded In Libya Mostly Able To Walk

(Rec. 2 p.m.) LONDON. Dec. 3. Reuter's special correspondent reports rain over a wide area of the Libyan battlefield on Tuesday, and there is a bitterly cold wind. A delayed message from the “Daily Telegraph’s” Cairo correspondent reported that the developments in Libya illustrate the extreme vitality of German resistance. The Germans seem disposed in a semi-circle running from El Adem through Sidi Rezegh and Ber el Hamid to Zaafran. British tank officers report that inside some of the captured tanks British uniforms have been found, presumably to give the crews a better chance of escape if a tank is knocked out. Burns Prevalent A senior medical officer in charge of the transport of wounded from the main battlefields said walking wounded, a large number of whom had their faces and hands burned in tanks, armoured cars and trucks set on fire by shells, constituted the majority of the casualties passing through his hands. The most serious cases were flown back from landing grounds near the Egyptian frontier to base hospitals in great silver de Havilands and Bombays, prominently marked with the Red Cross. The remainder were taken back by train from the railhead, which had been pushed far into the desert of Libya. Red Cross Respected The officer said that apart from a few horrifying exceptions, such as one case of German tanks driving through the tents of an advance dressing station, the Germans appeared to respect the Red Cross. It is authoritatively stated in London that the figures of tanks destroyed given in the German communique concerning Libya is fantastic, and therefore the other figures in the communique, such as the number of prisoners, are probably equally absurd.