Allied Forces in Close Pursuit

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 11 November 1942, Page 5

Allied Forces in Close Pursuit

REARGUARD ACTIONS BEING FOUGHT (Rec. 10.10 a.m.) London, Nov. 10. The Germans are still fighting in their hurried retreat. We shall probably have to clear many minefields and fight some rearguards before having a last crack at the Afrika Korps. They certainly have quite a few guns left, but not as many tanks. We have lost quite a lot of tanks, especially in the minefields in the front of El Alamein, but we have now recovered a very large proportion of them. No details are yet available of the numbers of Afrika Korps who escaped from the Egyptian battlefield. So far it is calculated that the enemy retreat has covered quite 250 miles in six days. Though the retreat has resembled a rout there is still to be taken into account garrisons and enemy bases in back areas. These troops are at least fresh and may have a stabilising influence on the retreating troops, whose rearguards have been greatly handicapped by lack of vital air support. There is no news yet about Italian troops occupying Siwa Oasis, about 200 miles south of Solium.

The Eighth Army has stepped up the tempo of its advance on the road to Libya, says Reuter’s correspondent. Fine weather returned on Monday after heavy rains which turned the desert into a quagmire. An almost non-stop downpour for 36 hours gave the fleeing Afrika Korps a good start in the race for the frontier, but British forces are fast making up time. An earlier message says that despite bad weather the Eighth Army’s advance is continuing steadily. The whole road is jammed with vehicles. The Cairo correspondent of “The Times” says the situation on the frontier is momentarily obscure, but there is no resistance Chat matters on the Egyptian side. It is not clear whether the enemy is attempting to defend Halfaya Pass. Anyway his forces are now inconsiderable. INCIDENT AT CROSSROADS This morning the Eighth Army was still mopping up islands of resistance around Mersa Matruh, where some elements of enemy 19th Light Division are still in the town with a few guns, reports a correspondent. At the crossroads he picked up a German soldier who said he did not really belong to any unit, as he arrived from Greece only three days ago and had been waiting at the crossroads until picked up. Rommel is now believed to be only fighting delaying actions with small groups and is trying to regroup what remains of his forces to fight along the frontier, with strong points at the foot of Halfaya Pass and Solium Hill. STILL MORE PRISONERS A Cairo communique says: “Enemy rearguards in the Sidi Barrani and Solium areas were engaged by our forces yesterday and the clearance battle in the area continues. Prisoners are still being brought in, mainly Italians abandoned by Germans. Much enemy equipment was collected. Our bombing and strafing operations over the frontier area continued during Sunday, and on Sunday night there was slight enemy opposition and our fighters destroyed at least one Messerschmitt. Our medium bombers* the same night attacked aerodromes in Sardinia. From these and other operations two of our planes are missing.”—P.A. and 8.0. W.