BRITISH STRATEGY

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24141, 6 December 1941, Page 11

BRITISH STRATEGY

reply by bommel PROGRESS OF OPERATIONS POSITION AFTER FORTNIGHT LONDON, Dec. 4 Looking back, it seems that General Sir Claude Auchinleck, Com-mander-in-Chief in the Middle East, probably withheld a trifle too long some of his plentiful reserves. It probably resulted from faulty intelligence concerning General Rommel's tank strength, which most commentators in London tended to disparage. Generals Auchinleck and Cunningham made the campaign difficult for Rommel early because of their swift blows. He replied just as swiftly, and because lie blotted the original British plan, he can be said to be leading on points. That does not say the British plan will fail, but it will not be helped by belittling and under-estimating the enemy. Scene of Main Clashes The British official wireless says the operations whicfi began a fortnight ago have taken place mainly in a parallelogram bounded on the north by the Tobruk-Bardia road and on the south by the El Abd track, which runs from Bir El Gobi, due south of Tobruk, to Sidi Omar, some 40 miles south of Bardia. Within the parallelogram were General Rommel's two armoured divisions, while just outside it, to the west, beyond the Tobruk-El Gobi road, lay an Italian armoured division. Between Bardia and Sidi Omar the enemy had a series of strongly-fortified infantry posts. Our attack was launched with a two-fold objective. We had to overcome the Bardia-Sidi Omar line, but this would have been a difficult operation as long as the enemy's armoured forces were intact. Accordingly, it was essential to compel those forces to give battle. Therefore, the role assigned to our armoured forces was to sweep westward, south of Sidi Omar, along the El' Abd track, then to bend north toward Tobruk between the two German armoured divisions and the Italian armoured division. The task of the infantry was, in part, to outflank and roll up the Bardia-Sidi Omar line, and, in part, to follow up our armoured forces roughly along the northern and southern sides of the parallelogram. Sortie From Tobruk The result was that the German divisions, reinforced by the Italian division from the west of the Tobruk-El Gobi track, were compelled to give battle in the desert south-west of Tobruk. During the engagements around El Duda and Sidi Rezegh British and Imperial infantry and supporting arms, advancing along the north and south sides of the parallelogram, joined in the main battle, while operations proceeded simultaneously for the reduction of Bardia and the Sidi Omar line. Meanwhile the Tobruk garrison, bursting south-eastward through the invading lines, created a salient which temporarily formed a junction with the British forces from the east and south. The junction was not consolidated, and for the moment there appears to be a gap between the Tobruk salient and our forces to the south. Most of Area Cleared However, the picture emerging at the end of a fortnight is this: Most of the strong enemy posts between Solium and Sidi Omar have been reduced and the remaining coastal defences are isolated. The enemy has lost his advanced supply bases. The great bulk of the parallelogram is clear of the enemy, and in the north-west corner there remain only fragments of the three enemy armoured divisions. The operations are far from having reached their conclusion. We have still to deal with the substantial enemy forces south-west and west of Tobruk and the remnants of the armoured divisions may still give trouble. Finally, the local air support which the Royal Air Force has achieved augurs well for the future. SOME DEGREE OF REST NEW ZEALAND SPEARHEAD ' FINE AIR FORCE SUPPORT (N.Z.E.F. Official News Service) CAIRO, Dec. 3 With atrocious weather conditions prevailing, the New Zealand spearhead of the Libyan advance takes the opportunity for some reorganisation as the tempo of the main battle in the northern theatre decreases After a protracted period of hard, fierce fighting, in which the opposition has been far from easy, the New Zealand and British troops are able to get some degree of rest. Meanwhile the greatest possible protection and support continues to be afforded by the Royal Air Force, which yesterday heavily bombed troops and transport in the Sidi Rezegh, El Adem and El Duda areas. Throughout the campaign the New Zealanders offered prayers of thankfulness for the Air Force work, and it was stated that its attacks on the enemy have been on such a scale as to cause bewilderment among the German troops. It is emphasised that "rest" is used in a comparative sense and patrols and local fighting continue in all areas. OWN MEN ATTACKED GERMANS BOMB PRISONERS (Reed. 7.30 p.m.) NEW YORK, Dec. 4 Junkers 88's attacked railway goods waggons which were taking Axis prisoners to the Nile Valley, says the correspondent of the Associated Press of America in the Western Desert. Bombs killed six Germans and wounded 60. One aeroplane, after bombing, machinegunned the waggons, apparently believing the occupants to be British. The only non-German casualty was one Italian. A British night fighter shot down one of the Junkers, upon which other Junkers bombed it as it burnt on the ground, presumably thinking they had hit a petrol dump. BROADCASTING UNIT NEW ZEALANDERS IN TOBRUK liONDON, Dec. 5 The New Zealand broadcasting unit, which-reached Tobruk by air on Tuesday, reports that the port seems to be little damaged after the long siege, but of the buildings only the walls remain.