TANK BATTLES RAGE IN DESERT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24772, 24 November 1941, Page 5

TANK BATTLES RAGE IN DESERT

GERMAN FORCES SPLIT RAPID BRITISH ADVANCE GENERAL ROMMEL TRAPPED (Bee. la.m.) LONDON, Nov. 22. ; The thunder of battle resounds over vast stretches of the desert to-night as British Imperial forces continue their unrelenting pursuit and destruction of the Germans and Italians. - Trapped in the Sidi Omar-Bardia-Tobruk triangle, General Rommel's situation is hourly becoming more unfavourable and may at any moment become untenable, says the correspondent of the Daily Mail writing from general headquarters in the Western Desert. A military spokesman in Cairo said, that the rapid advance to Bezegh had split the German armoured units. The larger proportion is in . the Gambut-Capuzzo area,-and the smaller southward of Tobruk. The Eighth Army is. now engaging the main portion. The weather is clearing, and the battle is now occurring on - ground where the going is good. The present tank battle is the key to the whole situation and it is going very well for the British. The battle is raging over an area of from 30 to 40 square miles. Fighting was resumed on the morning of November 22, although with fewer numbers as a result of yesterday's casualties. The Germans to the east are doing their utmost to.break out westwards, but they have been beaten back. The Germans, however, will fight to the last tank. Our forces are holding back the Germans on the west, having driven a wedge between them. The tank forces were about equal at the start of the offensive. The Italians hitherto played a minor role and the morale of their prisoners is very low, even lower than last year. 8. A DESTRUCTION OF ENEMY TANKS The main battle is proceeding 45 miles west of Capuzzo with the enemy trying to get away westwards, and the initiative throughout has remained with the British. General Cunningham set out to destroy the German armoured forces and he is doing it. An agency message from Melbourne quotes General Sir Thomas Blarney as saying the destruction of half the enemy's effective attacking strength means that Britain has won the land battle on which the result of the whole offensive hinges. Informed quarters in London interpret a Cairo statement that half the German tanks have already been'destroyed as meaning half the total German tanks in the field in North Africa.

Cairo correspondent of the Associated Press says it is learned that British forces to-uay paid a higher price than on previous days in men and material, but they won all of the numerous talik engagements. The British' dominate the battlefields and are thus able to recover the damaged tanks, but it is understood that the great tank battle may continue for two or three days. Reuter's correspondent with the Eighth Army says that on the first day of the attack the enemy concentrated a considerable forfee of tanks northwards of Sidi Omar,' intending to defend Solium against attack from the south and consolidate a strong line barring the British approach to Tobruk. Enemy forces in north-east Libya are largely German, and it is therefore not surprising to see them fight to the bitter end to deny us the use of Solium harbour. The spearhead of our advance was a famous cavalry regiment equipped with light tanks. /