WORK OF NAVY

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24134, 28 November 1941, Page 7

WORK OF NAVY

I ENEMY SUPPLY LINES GUARDING IMPERIAL ROUTES MORE U-BOATS SENT OUT 0 (Rmi. fi.r, p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 26 :7 The extent to which the relentless [1 naval and air attacks during the past e months on the Axis sea routes be- •- tween Italy and Libya are now bear- [- ing fruit was discussed in naval i- quarters in London to-day. The a enemy is prevented from bringing across, except by air, reinforcements i, and supplies while the crucial battle u is in progress. In the week since the British attack started we have, in addition to sinks ing seven enemy supply ships or troopf carriers, set fire to a schooner and s probably sunk a cruiser and a destroyer. 0 On the other hand, the much longer Y Imperial routes remain open. Nearly - every man of the Imperial forces taking . part in the offensive has travelled to the Middle East by sea. Although some 3 -aircraft have been flown to the theatre of war, all their ground staffs and equipment have gone by sea. In addition, the Navy has assured supplies to 7 the Tobruk garrison for many months, 3 under constant heavy bombing from 1 Axis bases in Crete, and has also re--5 lieved the troops of the garrison and ' brought tanks into the fortress. The J 7 Navy is now assisting the land opera--1 tions by bombardment of the coast. The Dominion navies contributed : siiips to the escorts which safely shep-! I herded British supplies for the cam--1 paign. The supplies placed a tremendous ; strain on British naval resources and 1 embraced long hauls round Capetown from places as far off as New Zealand and Australia. A Berlin message says U-boats have been sent to the Mediterranean, especially to assist the Italian fleet to meet the current British naval offensive. DARING ESCAPES SOUTH AFRICAN MAJOR AIRMEN'S ADVENTURE CAIRO, Nov. 26 A South African brigade major who was captured when an enemy tank broke into a South African position near bidi Rezegh escaped in a daring way, says the Sydney Morning Herald's war correspondent. He dropped back to the rear of the column of prisoners, where there were walking wounded, and, under the pretence of aiding the wounded, succeeded in getting a compass from a disabled tank. He then collected several resolute men and, when dusk came, made a break from his guards and got away. , They found a staff car abandoned, ; got it started, and drove all through i the night. They hid the car in a wa'di j during the day, as they had no means of knowing where our forces were, and drove on at night. At dawn yesterday ' they came up with our troops. j The escape of a British wing-com-mander and an Australian pilot is told by one correspondent. The Australian was seen on the ground by the wingcommander, who landed his Hurricane to pick the Australian up. The latter jumped into tho Hurricane, but one of its tyres was found to be flat and they could not take off. They hid in 1 a gully all night, were spotted by an ' Italian sentry, but got past him, and A were subsequently challenged again, but R escaped. On the third day they heard ' an English voice calling instructions to a battery. "That was too much," f said one airman. "We got up and ran \ all the way to them." v