Tanks in Action

Southland Times, Issue 24600, 24 November 1941, Page 4

Tanks in Action

11HE BATTLE of the Western • Desert is still raging, and some days may pass before the final result can be known or safely predicted. But all reports show that the British forces gained a tactical advantage in the preliminary phase, and that they were able to exploit this advantage in a series of spectacular clashes between armoured columns. The early moves were brilliantly planned and executed. General Cunningham’s purpose was to insert a wedge between the German panzer divisions, to isolate them from the Italian armoured units, and to cut the main line of communications. It was a process of encirclement, a method used many times and with conspicuous success by the enemy. For the first time since the beginning of the war a British general has been able to employ these tactics against the permans. The attempt was made possible by a rapid increase in Britain’s armoured strength. But tanks in themselves are not infallible instruments of victory. They must be powerfully armed and protected, fast and dependable in action, and manned by crews specially trained for warfare on wheels. The Germans have behind them a long series of victories in which tanks played a vital part. Their panzer divisions have gained a formidable reputation. Yet there is ample evidence that in this first major clash between British and German tanks the enemy has been kept on the defensive and has failed to break through the iron ring. Although both sides have suffered losses the Germans appear to have had the worst of it. According to one report the British losses are only one-third of the enemy’s. It is possible that General Cunningham began the battle with a numerical superiority. Moreover, the strong and effective assistance provided by the Royal Air Force must have increased the enemy’s difficulties. But the extensive nature of the operations would probably mean that in actual combat the opposed tank columns were fairly evenly matched. The results gained so far encourage the belief that the British • forces, tank for tank and man for man, are superior in quality to those of the enemy. Hitherto the Germans have been able to exploit an overwhelming advantage in numbers. They still have this advantage in Europe, and may have it for some time to come. But the Libyan battle has already shown that British and American tanks are good, and that British soldiers know how to use them in action. These facts will be noted with satisfaction in London, and with dismay in Berlin. They indicate a slow turning of the tide in a war of movement.