NEW ZEALANDERS MAKE PROGRESS

Southland Times, Issue 24602, 26 November 1941, Page 5

NEW ZEALANDERS MAKE PROGRESS

Main Battle Around

Sidi Resegh

(8.0.W.) RUGBY, November 24. The steady progress of the New Zealand forces culminating in the capture of Gambut is reported in a communique issued in Cairo today. “The main battle between the British and German forces continues in the area about Sidi Rezegh,” stated the communique. “This battle, which is being fought with the utmost resolution by both sides, has been in progress without cessation for over 48 hours. Meanwhile the New Zealand forces which captured Sidi Aziez and Fort Capuzzo have continued their move westwards and have captured Gambut, an important enemy supply centre half-way between Tobruk and Bardia. In the Sidi Omar area Indian troops continue their operations in the rear of the enemy defensive positions which at present are cut off from the west.

“British forces from Tobruk are consolidating the ground they have fallen. They report the capture, among other material, of a number of enemy field guns. In connection with the tank battle our air forces have continued their successful bombing and machinegunning attacks on enemy armoured forces and on mechanical transport connections in the battle area.”

A Cairo spokesman says that there has been a concentrated tank battle in Libya for the past 48 hours, but the tanks are getting fewer and the infantry are coming into it more on both sides. Considerable hand-to-hand fighting has occurred. AIR OPPOSITION INCREASES Air opposition has increased, but the enemy is concentrating in the back areas rather than in the battlefield. Hie infantry participating in the Sidi Rezegh battle consists of Britons, New Zealanders and South Africans, who are fighting in the open without trenches. The fighting in Libya is hard and confused and no estimate of its course is possible at present, according to an expert commentator in' London. The first phase of General Sil’ Claude Auchinleck’s attack is over. It consisted of getting British armoured formations forward and was the start of a shouldering movement against Axis frontier defences. The second phase, now going on, has resolved into a figh. against troops desperately struggling undei an able commander. The Axis position and supply situation is not at all good and there is no doubt that British air superiority has been maintained throughout, but either undue optimism or pessimism would be misplaced when it is impossible to estimate how the second phase will develop. It is generally felt here, however, that the admirable planning of the first phase which led to a complete British success is a good omen for satisfactory progress in the second. INTENSE FIGHTING The fighting around Sidi Rezegh is hourly becoming more intense and more furious, says the Cairo correspondent of The Times. General Rommel’s panzer forces are hitting back with wild- desperation as the British draw in. Because of the tank casualties the fighting is now over a relatively smaller area, although it is still large. There are no definite lines in the fixed plan, but merely masses of death-dealing tanks manoeuvring, attacking and counter-attacking.

It is too early to say whether, the Germans’ main supply dumps at Gambut have been seized. The British supply arrangements are functioning excellently, but the enemy is indisputably encountering serious difficulties. It must be emphasized that the battle in essence is being fought between the English and the Germans, the main brunt being borne by the armoured units, 70 per cent, of which are English. The rest are mainly South African.

The Royal Air Force is also predominantly English. These forces are bearing out the contention that man for man and machine for machine the British are more than a match for the Germans. Reuter’s Cairo correspondent says: “The area in which the battle is now raging is very broken, with two escarpments and innumerable wadis near by. Under these conditions it would not be easy for either side to break off such bitter battles. British air superiority continues.”