BOMBERS AGAIN ACTIVE

Southland Times, Issue 24651, 24 January 1942, Page 5

BOMBERS AGAIN ACTIVE

GERMANS HARASSED IN LIBYA

DIRECT HITS ON BASE x DEPOT (Rec. 7 p.m.) CAIRO, January 22. Following on improvement in the weather conditions in Tripolitania Royal Air Force bombers are again harassing, by day and by night, General Rommel’s lines of communication. Masses of debris were hurled high into the air when Blenheims scored direct hits qn a large base depot 10 miles from Homs. Our bombers also scored a number of hits on barrack buildings west of Homs and machine-gunned lorries on the coastal road. Other aircraft attacked motor transport at Zuara and machinegunned a Caproni bomber at the Zuara aerodrome. Enemy road communications were also bombed. Tripoli harbour was effectively , raided by our aircraft, and in the harbour area and the seaplane base large fires broke out. A Cairo communique states: “In bad visibility yesterday the enemy in three strong columns with the bulk of the remaining Axis tanks disposed among them made a reconnaissance in force to a depth of about 10 miles east of the general line running south of Mersa Brega. Our light forces which have been harassing the enemy since their retirement from Jedabaya withdrew, maintaining contact with the enemy throughout the day and inflicting casualties. The activities of our air force were seriously handicapped by bad weather.” A MINOR AFFAIR

This reconnaissance is regarded in London as a minor incident having little bearing on the general situation in Libya. Authoritative circles'- have no confirmation that the Germans have succeeded in obtaining reinforcements of armoured vehicles to establish, a coun-ter-offensive but columns might be composed of units re-formed in the rear. It is possible that the reconnaissance may be no more than a sortie for the purpose of covering a further withdrawal, and investigating the strength of the British advance posts. Major-General Sir Archibald Ritchie, commanding the Bth Army in Libya, visited General de Villers at Solium and congratulated him and his men before touring the battlefields. General Ritchie was especially interested in the elaborate German defence of Halfaya Pass and said it was obvious that many lives would have been sacrificed if the South Africans had been obliged to take it by assault TREATMENT OF PRISONERS

Captain Oliver Lyttelton, the British War Cabinet’s representative in the Middle East, after returning from a visit to tKe Libyan battlefield declared that the amount of captured war material was staggering. He added that he was horrified at the Italian treatment of our prisoners, especially in Bardia, where 1150, including wounded, were packed in a compound of barely an acre, without shelter or blankets, and put , on.’.short rations. Our men would not forget this shameful treatment.