SITUATION MUCH EASIER

Southland Times, Issue 24655, 29 January 1942, Page 5

SITUATION MUCH EASIER

“I therefore think the present situation in the Nile Valley, both west and east, incomparably easier than anything we have ever seen since we were deserted by the French Bordeaux-Vichy Government and we were set upon by Italy. It is only by the smallest margin that we have succeeded so far in beating General Rommel in Cyrenaica. To beat his tanks and his air force every tf.nk and every aircraft was needed. Only by victories on the Russian flank on the Black Sea coast have we been spared the over-running of these vast lands from the Levant to the Caspian which in turn gives access to India, the Persian Gulf, the Nile Valley and the Suez Canal.

“Where should we have been if we had yielded to the clamour so loud some months ago that we should invade France or the Low Countries? After two and a-half years of fighting we have only just managed to keep our heads above water.

“There has never been a time when Britain or the British Empire singlehanded could fight Germany and Italy ox - could wage a battle of Britain, a battle of the Atlantic, and a battle of the Middle East and at the same lime stand prepared to defend Burma, the Malay Peninsula, and generally the Far East, against the impact of a vast military empire like Japan, with more than 70 mobile divisions, the third navy in the world, and a great air force. Besides there are in all 80,000,000 or 90,000,000 of warlike Japanese. DELAYING FORCE “We, therefore, approved of General Auclxinleck’s plans for building up a delaying force in the vast regions from Cyprus to the Caspian Sea, on what I may call the Levant-Caspian front, and

the preparation of air fields and communications upon which a larger force could be based when time and transport allowed. On the western flank we prepared to set upon General Rommel and try to make a good job of him. For the sake of this battle on the Libyan desert we concentrated everything we could lay hands on. We hoped to recapture Cyrenaica, including the vital airfields around Benghazi, but General Auchinleck’s main objective was more simple—he set himself to destroy Rommel’s army. ROMMEL’S LOSSES “If General Auchinleck had not assumed command and ordered the ruthless pressure of the attack to be maintained without regard to risks or consequences, we should now be back on the old line from which we started, or, perhaps, further back. Tobruk would possibly have fallen and General Rommel would be marching towards the Nile. Cyrenaica has been regained; it has still to be held. We have not succeeded in destroying General Rommel’s army but nearly two-thirds of it are wounded, prisoner or dead. “Of the forces which Rommel possessed on November 18 little more than one-third now remain; 852 German and Italian aircraft have been destroyed and 386 German and Italian tanks. During this battle we never had more than 45,000 men against an enemy force, if they could be brought to bear, much more than double as strong.

“Therefore, it seems to me, this heroic, epic struggle in the desert, although there have been many reverses—local reverses—tested our manhood in a seai'ching fashion and proved, not only that our men can die for king and country—everyone knew that—but that they can kill.”