MOVES IN LIBYA

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24189, 3 February 1942, Page 5

MOVES IN LIBYA

ROMMEL HAMPERED

LIGHT REINFORCEMENTS

BRITISH CONFIDENCE

(Reed. 7.35 p.m.) LONDON, Feb. 2 A press correspondent in Cairo, quoted by the British official wireless, writes: While it is admitted Rommel received sea-borne reinforcements, in spite of heavy losses inflicted on Axis convoys crossing the Mediterranean, only a small amount of supplies must have reached North Africa. Most of them came in mosquito ships of from 50 to 150 tons, which could slip into small coves unable to accommodate larger vessels. They would unload cargoes and then scuttle back across the Mediterranean under cover of darkness. It is doubtful whether the enemy received a sufficient number of heavy modern tanks or salvaged enough shattered tanks to replace his wrecked panzers and enable him to launch a wide scale operation or fight another mobih' battle with any prospect of success. Even so he has enough fire power to continue with his advance raids, having probably saved in his withdrawal a good proportion of his mobile guns and a number of his anti-tank guns, but this would only constitute a fragment oi his original strength. Superiority oi Morale Now that Rommel's men have taken the offensive they probably have regained some of their dash and confidence, in spite of heavy losses and hardships, but this no doubt will vanish as soon as they are hit hard again. British strategy has always been aimed at the destruction of the enemy's forces rather than territorial gains, and the Eighth Army has the advantage of fighting nearer its bases with men of superior morale to the Germans and with adequate equipment. Comment received from Cairo suggests that the campaign in Cyrenaica is now in the strategical phase, with both sides endeavouring to seize the direction of the main operations. The British command is by no means allowing Rommel to take the initiative and choose the battleground. Little Opposition Yet The Axis panzer forces, however, arc ] expected soon to be once more on the move when reinforced and re-equipped. The armies are now in contact to the east of Barce, north-east of Benghazi, but no substantial fighting has yet taken place beyond an engagement west of Maraua. Moving north-east from Benghazi, Rommel experienced no great difficulty and was faced with little opposition to his negotiation of the escarpment. It yet remains to be seen if Rommel will embark on a much wider movement by sending his right wing along the desert route to El Mekili and toward the Egyptian frontier. Italians. Claim Barce An Italian communique claims that Barce, in North-west Cyrenaica, has been reached and passed by Axis forces, but there is no confirmation of this news in London. Barce is a town about 60 miles north-east of Benghazi. The latest Cairo communique states that our troops yesterday were engaged west of Maraua with enemy columns moving north-east along the roads leading from Benghazi. Our fighters attacked enemy mechanised transport in the Benghazi and Msus areas, destroying a number of vehicles and damaging others.

MR. NASH IN AMERICA

INTERVIEWED BY PRESS

TAXATION FIGURES QUOTED

WASHINGTON. Feb. 1 The fact that the New Zealand Minister to Washington, the Hon. W. Nash, held a press conference before he presented his credentials might be regarded in some quarters as slightly irregular, but in wartime with Washington officials it is results and not formalities which are usually observed. Mr. Nash afforded some laughs amid a mostly serious discussion. When asked how many Japanese there were in New Zealand, he replied, "Three," whereupon a reporter observed, "Just the same as the famous Japanese monkeys of 'See, Hear and Speak No Evil' " Mr. Nash made the reporters gasp when he said that the maximum tax in New Zealand was per cent of income in the upper brackets. Since the United States has just instituted a war tax of about 10 to 15 per cent for the average man Mr. Nash's figure was impressive. Once, when a reporter doubted that New Zealand need fear a Japanese attack because it was so far away, Mr. Nash retorted: "So was Pearl Harbour."