CONVOY WORK REDUCED

Southland Times, Issue 24649, 22 January 1942, Page 5

CONVOY WORK REDUCED

VALUE OF HALFAYA HAZARDS RUN ON SEA ROUTES (Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, January 20. It is stated in authoritative circles in London that the capture of Halfaya has a certain amount of importance from a naval point of view. The establishment of through land line communications is likely to ease the naval convoy situation, for convoys hitherto have been following up the armies with supplies. At the same time the route has not been so hazardous to convoys during the latest stage of the campaign as when the Tobruk garrison had to be supplied for several months from the sea. With German-occupied Crete on the flank there has always been the possibility of dive-bombing and aircraft attacks, and it was necessary to guard the convoys by fighter patrols and with a considerable expenditure of air effort. On the other side it must be remembered that the convoy routes are now 250 miles longer with the need to travel as far as Benghazi, and have also become more dangerous with the presence in the Mediterranean of Nazi submarines which show much higher efficiency in initiative and attack than those of their Italian allies.