STILL IN THE FIELD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24950, 24 June 1942, Page 5

STILL IN THE FIELD

A STRONG EIGHTH ARMY LAND AND AIR REINFORCEMENTS ■.-:'■'.''-;'.',', : v ■. - (United Press Association) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) (Rec. il p.m:) LONDON, June 23. Speaking in the House of Commons the DeputyPrime Minister, Mr C. R. Attlee, said that the Bth Army was still in the field and was getting reinforcements. He quoted a despatch from General Sir Claude Auchinleck, which revealed that at one stage of the battle the enemy was exhausted, and had been fought to a standstill. Had the British forces been able to take advantage of this moment they might have turned the scale, but unfortunately they were equally exhausted. Mr Attlee said that the attack on Tobruk commenced on the morning of June 20. After an hour's bombardment the infantry attacked •and broke through the perimeter defences. Enemy tanks and lorries followed, and by the afternoon the situation had deteriorated rapidly. 'Mr Attlee said that the fight for Libya was continuing. There were still strong forces in the field. Land and air reinforcements had arrived and others were on the way. The gallant resistance of Malta, he said, warranted every possible effort being made to maintain its people and garrison. Mr Attlee also disclosed the losses incurred in the recent naval and air battle in the eastern Mediterranean. The Royal Navy lost one , light cruiser, four destroyers, and two escort vessels. The enemy lost one eight-inch gun cruiser, two destroyers, and one U-boat. .One enemy battleship was also hit by a torpedo. The Axis lost at least 65 planes, and the Royal Air Force and the Fleet Air Arm lost 30.

Cairo newspapers are confident that the Eighth Army will check and drive back the Germans and Italians. The confidence is based on the continual stream of men and supplies arriving in the Middle East, and on the belief that the United States will play an increasing part in this theatre of the war.

The Berlin radio announced that Herr Hitler had cabled to Marshal Rommel promoting him to field-marshal. .

All the German radio stations broadcast a two-minute speech by Field-marshal Rommel, who said that the Afrika Corps did superhuman work, in spite of terrible privations.

According to the Berlin radio panzers crossed the Tobruk tank traps on- pre-fabricated bridges brought up on wheels. Major-general Klopper is among the five generals captured at Tobruk. He is aged 32, and is South Africa's youngest general.

It is learned in Cairo that the Germans dropped parachute troops during the Tobruk fighting. One report says some landed on the beaches and took the garrison in the:rear.

COSTLY DEFEAT -LOSS OF TOBRUK SURVEY OF CAUSES '■" RUGBY, June 22. The news of the fall of Tobruk has been received with profound disappointment in- Britain, where the loss of so many valiant and well-tried troops, including those of the Ist South African Division, is felt as a bitter '.The general mood is well expressed by'The Times,;, which Says* that, neither in London nor; Cairo will there nowsbe any disposition to underestimate the danger. General Sir Claude Auchinleck, confronts ' a . victorious army at whose hands, t his.troops have, suffered "a'costly defeat.' ' .-'.'. ':! The .course_ .of';'.the:''l<iartpaign',h'as shown that, whatever hopes may have been entertained of their newest weapons, the advantage of equipment has throughout been against the Allied forces. A lost battle is, however, not a lost campaign. The British task now is ;tb:halt'Marshal'von Rommel on the long and difficult road into Egypt and assemble strength that may once again force his retirement to the west, but it calls for radical innovations in tactical methods arid mechanical design. An agency correspondent in Egypt, in a message on the fall of Tobruk, says: "The fortress was attacked throughout Saturday with a ferocity never hitherto displayed phase of tbedesert campaign. On Sunday the Germans-brought up a great amount of artillery, including-anti-tank and antiaircraft guns, to the part of the perimeter they had taken-and cleared of minefields. After dawn it was evident that bc a result' of waves of dive-bomb-ing and artillery pounding the garrison could.not stand much longer, the port and even the hospital falling under fire."

became evident that the garrison could not withstand'much longer such a terrific ordeal of fire." The British United Press correspondent in the Western Desert says: "The battle for Tobruk lasted 26 hours, and was the grimmest yet seen in Libya. German and: Italian tanks and shock troops advanced against the south-east defences under a terrific barrage by German cannon. About 40 tanks remained to widen the gap, while others, supported by motorised infantry, dashed down the main El Adem-Tobruk road. We sent out two strong tank forces against the enemy on the El Adeni road, but our tanks met an uninterrupted hail of shells from every gun which the Germans could drag to the escarpment, and they were knocked out. one by one. ''Five hours after the initial attack the "Axis" tanks commanded the main roads between Tobruk; Gambut, and El Adem-Tobruk. The enemy then spread out. Some wheeled against the rear of our forces, holding the edges of the original gap created by the Axis forces, while bigger tank forces ' dashed. in, against our artillery and forced their way, towards our headquarters. Another tank group crashed through hastily-erected road blocks, entering the town shortly before nightfall. Fires blazed all night as we destroyed stores. Minor battles were fought in the moonlight as the enemy attacked isolated posts. The battle was resumed at full blast at dawn, when the Axis tanks assaulted our outposts, where the gunners were exhausted after almost continual firing. Headquarters moved each time it was menaced, but it was only a question of time before the enemy was master of the entire fortress."

LACK OF RESISTANCE WASHINGTON PUZZLED LONDON, June 22. A Washington message says that opinion in the capital is not only worried, but frankly puzzled, by the extraordinary lack of resistance of the Libyan fortress, whethsr planned or otherwise, compared with that put up last year. It is now thought that Tobrujj/s fall will figure centrally in the conferences between President Roosevelt and Mr Churchill. Some commentators fesl that the fall of Tobruk alters the entire strategic picture and that the factors of time and place for a second front must be profoundly affected by it. Marshal von Rommel, it is pointed out, succeeded because the Germans still give battle to the Allies where and when they choose, while the Allies are constrained to be ready to parry blows at a dozen places at once and cannot gather offensive strength or decisive dimensions anywhere. German Press Comment

The correspondent adds: "In desert warfare material counts above every-thing-else, and the German 88mm guns can penetrate our tanks at a greater range than our guns can penetrate; theirs. The success of the well-equipped Afrika Korps against our armoured vehicles permitted Rommel to counter our attack and restore his positions. He attacked with considerable superiority in armour."

The correspondent's conclusion is that Rommel does not invent new tactics, but always acts with swiftness in pursuit of his original plan. Allies' Hesitancy

The Evening Standard's special correspondent in Cairo says: "The 26day battle in Libya was lost in a sixhour engagement on June 13. It was decided by the anti-tank guns which we did not have. Our arms and armour were not equal to the enemy's. and we were out-generalled. Those are glib summaries for headline hunters, but actually all of them are true. The story partly comprises faulty leadership, partly our war machines, and partly the men\ guiding those machines. Marshal Rommel beat us badly in the battle on June 13; This battle was not merely a matter of equipment, but of manoeuvre, and we were out-manceuvred." The Cairo correspondent of the British United Press (Mr Richard McMillan) says: "We sat and allowed the enemy in Libya to make every move. Even our decision to try to hold or evacuate Tobruk was typical of our hesitancy. We at one time made up our minds to abandon it for reasons not able to be discussed at present. Then came a quick change. The idea was that we should regroup cur strength outside Tobruk. launch ourselves at the enemy's back, and raise the siege before the situation inside the perimeter became desperate. The plan was sound enough, but it never materialised. I say. after seeing all the phases of the fighting, that the fault has lain in the general direction of the fighting. Rommel has become the bogey of the desert and the biggest bogey to too many ' high-ups themselves." j The Tobruk garrison comprised United Kingdom. Indian, and South African troops, some of whom escaped. Small parties of troops reached the British linss after making their way thi-ouah enemv formations. Some small craft loaded with supplies and a few personnel escaped from Tobruk Harbour under tank and artillery fire. ■.'.'.'...' .The Berlin radio claims that the number-of--British; South African; and Indian prisoners in North Africa totals 28,000."/ . > Terrific Ordeal of Fire

The Volkischer Beobachter, commenting on the fall of Tobruk, said those who had heard of the strength of Tobruk's defences no doubt rcekoned on a longer siegs. The fact that Rommel's desert troops took it by assault at the first blow without big artillery preparations is a surprising achievement deserving of the highest admiration.

A Stockholm message from Berlin states that it is generally believed in German circles that new and mors effective ammunition contributed to Rommel's early success. The German public is being warned that the hot season will probably favour the defence of Egypt.

"Tobruk fell mainly through the difficulty of sending supplies by sea," says the Middle East correspondent of the Exchange Telegraph. "Material counts above everything in desert warfare, and the Germans had superiority. Throughout Saturday- the Axis forces attacked Tobruk with a ferocity hitherto ' not' displayed' in any phase'>of the desert.campaign.*■' By dawn on Sunday, when waves of Stukas started a dive-bombing blitz, with artillery pounding the defences incessantly, it