RELENTLESS ADVANCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25068, 9 November 1942, Page 3

RELENTLESS ADVANCE

PURSUIT OF AXIS FORCES LARGE NUMBERS SURROUNDED (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 8. The Eighth Army continues its pursuit of the enemy’s panzer forces, which are still in full retreat. The latest communique from Middle East headquarters states that Axis troops who are fighting & delaying action at Mersa Matruh have been surrounded. It now seems clear, the communique adds, that the German armoured forces withdrew without attempting to extricate the Italian infantry divisions. The whole headquarters of three Italian divisions have been captured. The Allied air force, operating on a major scale, continues to strafe the retreating enemy forces. Troops and motor transport in Halfaya Pass, in the region of Buq Buq and on the Solium escarpment have been heavily bombed and machine-gunned. In addition, aerodromes on Crete have been attacked by our long-range bombers. 1 Reuters Agency reports that we have cordoned ail the remaining Axis troops westward of Fuka. Our tanks, anti-tank guns, and heavy artillery are hammering them to pieces. They are also being bombed from the air. The Berlin radio suggests that the High Command has lost contact with Rommel, and admits the possibility that he may be taken prisoner. Three Italian divisions, the Prescia, Trento, and Folgore, are trapped in the southern area of the front. The Allied Air Force ground staffs are now installed at the Fuka aerodrome. Reuters correspondent at Cairo reports that Allied air squadrons have been moved up, so that the land forces are enjoying continual protection from fighters. The Axis moved all their ground defences from El Daba for the purpose of protecting their rearguard, for which reason the Allied planes are encountering very strong anti-aircraft resistance.

“ This victory in Egypt marks the turning point of the destinies of the Allied nations,” said General Maxwell, chief of the United States mission in the Middle East, addressing newly-arrived American troops. “We cannotcest until every Axis soldier has been banished from Africa, until every ship upon the Mediterranean is an Allied.ship, and we strike with irresistible force against Italy and to the heart of Germany.”

AN AXIS STAND QUICKLY OVERCOME TOLL OF PRISONERS (Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 7. Twenty thousand prisoners have already been captured in the fighting in North Africa, and 400 guns, 350 tanks, and several thousand mechanical transport vehicles have been captured or destroyed, states an announcement made at No. 10 Downing street. The Eighth Army is advancing, the statement adds, and our mobile forces are operating south of Mersa Matruh. This reference to Mersa Matruh implies an advance here from El Alamcin of some 150 miles. The communique states: “ Throughout Thursday night and during yesterday the Eighth Army continued to pursue the enemy westward. The "remnants of the panzer army attempted to hold our advance on the Fuka escarpment, but, after a vigorous attack by our armoured forces, was driven still further west. In the south the mopping up of abandoned Italian divisions is in progress. The advance of the Eighth Army continues. “Following a night of heavy bombing, our air forces yesterday continued their low-flying attacks on the still withdrawing enemy. Particularly suer cessful strafing was carried out at a point west of Mersa Matruh, where heavy casualties were inflicted on vehicles and troops. Heavy bombers carried but daylight attacks on Benghazi and Tobruk. At. Benghazi hits were claimed on a tanker, and a merchant vessel was hit ai Tobruk. No enemy air activity is reported. On Thursday night a large Italian aircraft was shot down south-east of Malta. From these operations two of our aircraft did not return, but three pilots who were previously reported missing are now known to be safe.”

IN FULL RETREAT TERRIFIC AXIS LOSSES NEW ZEALANDERS’ PART (Rec. 6.30 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 7. The latest reports indicate that the bulk of Rommel’s army is in complete retreat just eastward of Mersa Matruh. Reuters correspondent says that large New Zealand forces are moving rapidly along the edge of the Quattara Depx’ession, between which and the coast the Eighth Army is making a wide sweep in an effort to pin Rommel’s fleeing army against the sea. The correspondent adds: “It is impossible to keep up with the speed of the advance.” A report from the front indicates that Rommel's position is deteriorating rapidly. After smashing through the enemy's rearguard screen, the Eighth Army is sweeping westward in a great arc to bring the main body of the retreating Axis forces to battle, reports Reuters correspondent in a despatch from General Montgomery’s field headquarters. The British spearheads are believed to have already reached Mersa Matruh. • The New Zealand forces oh the left of the British line are actually ahead of Rommel in the race for the Egyptian frontier. The New _ Zealanders control all the enemy’s inland track communications at the bottleneck between the Quattara Depression and the , sea. All the troops Rommel left behind between Mersa Matruh and Fuka are being pounded to pieces by a ring of tanks, anti-tank guns, and artillery. Enemy Pockets Surrounded The Axis losses are terrific. Southward of El Daba the Allies have surrounded large enemy pockets, mostly of Italians, but including German parati’oops. Three thousand Italians have already surrendered in a bunch. South African armoured cars have rounded up another 2000 German and Italian stragglers. Two more Italian divisions, namely, the Bologna and Trieste, have been isolated in the south, making a total of five all encircled. The Italian divisions have no hope of escaping, as they have no transport and little food and water.

Composition of Forces

It was learned in London to-day that the' actual battle array in the Egyptian fighting can be set forth as follows: The German and Italian forces consisted of four armoured, three motorised. and five other divisions, while the British had three armoured and seven other divisions, the latter category consisting of the 44th Home Counties Division, the 50th Northumbrian Division, the 51st Highland Division, the New Zealand Division, the 9th Australian Division, the Ist South African Division, and the 4th Indian Division. It can also be stated that the Argylls, the Black Watch, the Camerons, and the Seaforths formed part of the 41st Division.

Private advices reaching the New York Times indicate that only about 80 tanks of Rommel’s original force are left. Rommel is at present trying to keep the Afrika Korps together. The German 15th and 21sc Armoured Divisions, as well as the 19th Light Motorised Division, are reported to be approaching Mersa Matruh. The British have been able to get some armoured cars across Rommel’s line of retreat at Mersa Matruh. The Germans are already flying reinforcements to Rommel. Hitler appears to be determined to make a fight of it, but whether he can will depend upon developments in the next three or four days. He is not yet eliminated. German Claims The Berlin News Agency claims that Rommel’s counter operations near Fuka and Mersa Matruh have put a sufficient distance between his main forces and the Eighth Army’s spearhead to secure freedom of movement. His skilful and elastic defence has thus given the Axis forces all the offensive possibilities of desert warfare. It is also compelling General Montgomery to follow the movement of the Axis forces hesitatingly and cautiously. The withdrawal, the News Agency claims, is being carried out calmly and in full order, enabling Rommel to preserve his fighting strength. A Cairo message states that Ameri-can-built Nash torpedo boats manned by the British carried out several operations last week against positions at the rear of the enemy’s lines in the Mersa Matruh area. The small boats dashed in and shot up enemy strong points and drew a hail of fire from the shore guns and night-flying planes. The torpedo boats were not damaged, and there were no casualties.

It is pointed out that, following the driving out of the remnants of the panzer divisions from Fuka, there may still be small groups which reached Mersa Matruh and will continue fighting there. Discussing the possibilities of an enemy stand, a correspondent with the Eighth Army cables: “ Rommel will evidently continue to fight, and a battle took place last night in front of the Fuka escarpment, which seemed to have become the main enemy position. Two of our armoured units with infantry met him with an entirely different fighting spirit than that of his worndown troops. Meanwhile mopping up operations went on, and one of our armoured corps bagged some thousands of prisoners. Isolated fights are going on between fragments of the German and Italian forces and our units patrolling the desert to catch stray groups of the enemy. In other sectors the German withdrawal is turning into a real rout. Begging for Water

“ Long flies of exhausted Axis soldiers are struggling along the Quattara road, begging water. They claim that they received orders from Rommel to return on foot the best way they could, and many prefer to walk the shortest distance to the prisoner-of-war cages. All along the roads behind the former front one sees stranded German tanks, many in perfect condition, which were abandoned by their crews owing to lack of petrol and water. “ Before leaving the Daba aerodrome, which to the beginning of the week was the Luftwaffe’s main landing ground, the enemy found time to burn tanks which had not been victims of the R.A.F bombing. This aerodrome was taken by an R.A.F. regiment, whose primary task is defending aerodromes. They found gliders there, some of which had been hit by machine-gun bullets and bombs before they had time to unload. The dispersal areas of the aerodrome were strewn with dead, most of whom were Germans. The railway station and adjoining building were smashed by British bombs. Many wagons containing explosives and ammunition had exploded and bodies were found thrown 300 yards from the wreckage."