GERMAN FORCES WITHDRAW

Southland Times, Issue 24599, 22 November 1941, Page 7

GERMAN FORCES WITHDRAW

MOVEMENT ON LARGE SCALE

(Rec. 8.10 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 21. The Daily Mail says that LieutenantGeneral Cunningham’s forces are. still advancing without serious opposition. The German panzer forces in the triangle formed by Sidi Omar, Gambut and Solium are withdrawing as fast as possible. The extent of the withdrawal is not known, but it must be. on a large scale, presumably to the district south of Tobruk. The news that an Italian division south of Tobruk has already begun to retire seems to indicate that the siege of Tobruk has been raised to a great extent.

The correspondent of The Daily Express with the Bth Army says that in a huge series of concentric lines the British forces are closing on the enemy positions like Solium and Sidi Omar and the lines around Tobruk. General Rommel’s two vital armoured units are between Bardia and Tobruk and there is evidence that he may be drawing his forces from the frontier in the direction of Tobruk.

“Wherever he goes we are pursuing to force a battle,” the correspondent added. “Don’t expect the immediate collapse of heavily fortified places like Halfaya. We are already behind them, but for days the battle will be extremely fluid.”

The Eastern Mediterranean Fleet is out in full for the Libyan offensive, says the Associated Press correspondent aboard H.M.S. Barham. The battle fleet covered 'the bombarding force, but did not encounter Axis warships. Most of the shelling was directed against Ilalfaya, where the Axis had large ammunition dumps and supply bases, in addition to thousands of troops. The Navy’s shells are believed to have hit several dumps, causing violent explosions. AXIS BOMBERS DRIVEN OFF The bombardment occurred shortly before midnight on Wednesday night. Gunners manned every gun in the fleet when Axis bombers shadowed the warships, keeping just beyond effective gun range. Then Royal Air Force planes came over and drove off the bombers. A single enemy plane roared over in the night at a height of 300 feet and dropped flares, but did not 1 attempt an attack. A Military Spokesman in Berlin said: “We agree with the British that they ! will have no military walkover in Libya. The military position there is | different from a year ago. We await developments calmly.” AIR SUPPORT Further news of the support which the Royal Air Force and the South African Air Force are giving to the Empire forces advancing into Cyrenaica is contained in a Royal Air Force communique from the Middle East, which states: “In close co-operation with the Imperial land forces Allied aircraft were in action over the frontier zone of the Western Desert throughout Wednesday and enemy tanks and motor transport moving westward along the Capuzzo-Sollum road and in the Gambut, Sidi Azeiz, Bardia and El Adem areas were heavily bombed. Four Junkers 88’c and two Messerschmitt 109’s were destroyed at Tmimi and other enemy aircraft were severely damaged. At Sidi Azeiz a Caproni bomber was destroyed on the ground. An attack was carried out by fighter aircraft of the South African Air Force on the aerodrome at Sidi Azeiz when several Italian fighters burst into flames and others were catching fire as the aircraft left. “Enemy motor transport on the road from El Aghlila was effectively ma-chine-gunned, many vehicles being extensively damaged. During Tuesday night bomber aircraft of the Royal Air Force raided Tripoli, where the power station and-harbour installations were attacked. Or. the same night Royal Air Force bombers raided Naples and Brindisi. At Naples hits were registered on the docks and marshalling yards and fires broke out in the dock area at Brindisi. From a 1! fb ese operations three aircraft are missing.”