LATE NEWS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24950, 24 June 1942, Page 6

LATE NEWS

THE BATTLE OF EGYPT ZERO HOUR ARRIVES LONDON, (Rec. 2 a.m.) June 23. Zero hour has arrived in the battle of Egypt. A late message from the Cairo correspondent of the Daily Express states that a strong German column of tanks and all other arms is moving toward Fort Oapuzzo. It adds that some of

the Tobruk garrison are still fighting on. The centre of resistance is Palestrina, five miles from the town, where the South Africans, holding Italian forts, resisted repeated attacks from German troops and Stukas. A Zurich message from military experts says that the 88millimetre gun conguered Tobruk. It quickly destroyed 12 fortifications in the outer defence line, making it possible to drive a wedge about three miles in width. All the experts agree that Field Marshal Rommel has an enormous number of these guns and complete superiority in war material.

THE RUSSIAN FRONT HITLER'S FINAL THROW (Rec. 2 a.m.) NEW YORK, June 23. The Soviet Ambassador, M. Lilvinov, declared that Hitler was ,pow flinging all his forces against the. Russian front in a final throw of the dice, on which he was staking all. He again asked for the establishment of a second front, adding: "There is now every ground to hope for it in the near future." Mr William Green, president of the American Federation of Labour, endorsed M. Litvinov's plea, asserting that it was imperative that the United Nations should open a second European front at the earliest practicable moment. SEBASTOPOL'S VOW "DEATH OR VICTORY" (Rec; 1.30 a.m.) LONDON, June 23. The Moscow radio, quoting from the newspaper Pravda, stated that, forcing their way over the mounting heaps of their own dead, the enemy, with bloody froth at their mouths, are attacking Sebastopol again and again. Hundreds of dive-bombers are attacking our coastal forts, while the aerodrome is being continually shelled and bombed, but our pilots continue to take off. Russian ships, in face of the enemy artillery, still enter and leave the harbour, bringing supplies and reinforcements. Work goes on, although the workers are underground. Part of the population, particularly children, have been successfully evacuated. The defenders of Sebastopol made a vow of death or victory.