WESTWARD DRIVE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24790, 15 December 1941, Page 5

WESTWARD DRIVE

THE FORCES IN LIBYA GERMANS WITHDRAWING TOBRUK FREE OF ENEMY RUGBY, Dec. 12. Summing up the results of the westward drive of General Auchinleck’s forces, an agency correspondent with the Eighth Army points out that it is now possible to travel along the coast road from Alexandria to Tobruk with only a slight diversion southward at the frontier where the Capuzzo track can be used before picking up the road again towards Bardia, which can be side-tracked for the present. Solium and Bardia still harbour pockets of enemy forces, but nobody is seriously troubled by them. The small forces in these areas are known to be short of food and water, and without means of communication. Now and then small detachments emerge from hide-outs to give up the unequal struggle. The situation is equally healthy in a vast area south of the coast, where British troops are continually mopping up and driving the remnants of the enemy forces northwards and westwards. In view of the likelihood of another battle west of Tobruk when the enemy makes a halt the present British manoeuvres are designed to prevent enemy concentrations to the west.

Ceaseless day and night operations by the army and Air Force are made possible by the formidable organisation of supply. The whole desert is astir with life, sustained by apparently limitless supplies of petrol and oil.

The correspondent continues: “ You can count our aircraft by squadrons, and fighting vehicles of every conceivable and ingenious variety by scores are to be seeen, eaqh on its appointed mission. Grimly, but good-humouredly, the men from each Empire country trudge on quietly to do their task whatever it may be, for good soldiering is more than merely good fighting in this protracted campaign. It is the talent to wrest the maximum from living conditions, and nftt yield to the desert, over which hangs the hand of death to punish and blight the unwary and inexperienced. Ultimate victory may depend on the individual soldier’s ability to make his own life endurable by improvised feeding, sheltering, and resting.” Boundless Industrial Camp

“For each man flying to make the skies safe there are 20 men on the ground to see that the aircraft are kept efficient. There must be men immediately behind the advancing forces to feed the troops, and fuel and man the vehicles. The desert resembles not so much a battlefield as seemingly a boundless industrial camp where every type of improvisation is encouraged, perfected, and practised against the Germans.

“With Tobruk completely disengaged, the Germans are continuing their withdrawal. Encounters are constantly taking place, especially southeast of Gazala. which we have surrounded without occupying it. General Scobie has entrusted the task of mopping up Italians to the hard-fighting Poles, who have moved up outside the west perimeter. *“ In the first day of the sortie from Tobruk the guns in the desert citadel fired 4000 rounds of ammunition. By the fifth day they had made the famous corridor through the encircling enemy, but powder was getting low. An urgent signal was sent to the navy that ammunition and reinforcemenets were needed at once, and ship after ship ran the gauntlet. In this dangerous and difficult job under the vigilant eye of the enemy the navy won •through,, and stores - and ammunition for thousands reached the fortress. The convoys for the first time in months dared to travel even during bright moonlight and arrived at their destination during the daytime. All arrived safely, escorted by destroyers. “There are more men to-day at Tobruk than ever before to reinforce the historic garrison, composed of Highlanders, Yorkshiremen, other British infantrymen, and Poles, who have beaten back attack after attack.”

NAVY’S FINE WORK

RUGBY, Dec. 12.

The navy’s part in maintaining Tobruk from April 12 last until December 12 is well shown by figures, states an Alexandria despatch. The navy carried 29,000 of all ranks into Tobruk, evacuated 33,000, and ran in 34,000 tons of supplies and foodstuffs, representing an average of 142 tons a day. Admiral Glennie, referring to the destroyers’ work, said; “The supply of Tobruk has been a naval problem since the moment it was invested. During the earliest days supplies were run in by a very mixed collection, including minesweepers and escort vessels, and then latterly almost entirely by destroyers—the only vessels with sufficient speed in the face of the increasing German air threat. We ran an average of three destroyers each night, sometimes accompanied by a minelayer carrying stores. The run took about 17 Hours,’ ending about 11 p.m., and allowing a maximum of two hours for unloading. Sometimes we hunted submarines. but mostly it was just a straightforward trip. The only difficulty was when we got there. What navigation lights were allowed were necessarily of the dimmest. There are 22 wrecks in that ‘ships’ graveyard,’ which is about a mile and a-half long and three-quarters of a mile wide. Some are clearly visible, and others are submerged. The quays are of the poorest, having been knocked about by repeated bombings, and even under the most favourable conditions the ships had to be well handled. But we managed to carry out the task with very little damage. The problem of handling gear was especially difficult, but the minesweepers worked un a high degree of efficiency by careful stowing and rapid unloading into lighters. On very few occasions hove we failed to deliver our goods, and I must pay an especial tribute to the monumental work done by those li+tle fellows which were slow and onlv lightly armed, and also to those Australian destrovers. which were grand, and carried the heat and burden of the day when Tobruk was first invaded.” RAPID BRITISH ADVANCE SWEEPING AROUND GAZALA (Rec. 8.30 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 13. According to military circles in Cairo, a rapid and vigorous British advance is sweeping around Gazala and probably has cut off a fair proportion of two Italian infantry divisions. These divisions hitherto covered the northwestern corner of the Tobruk perimeter. They withdrew under pressure of Polish forces from Tobruk and British forces sweeping in from the south. Gazala, an important supply centre, is now endangered if it is not already in our hands.