BRITISH FORCES WELL PLACED

Southland Times, Issue 24756, 29 May 1942, Page 5

BRITISH FORCES WELL PLACED

Enemy Soon Engaged (Rec. 6.30 p.m.) LONDON, May 27. It is now clear that Field-Marshal Rommel’s movements were not mere patrol activity, but the opening of a new offensive, says the correspondent of The Times, cabling from Cairo tonight. The largest of the enemy columns set out at dawn yesterday and was engaged by nightfall, showing how well T .ipiitcnant-General Ritchie had placed his armoured forces. Reuters military writer, commenting on the enemy advance, says it is known that reinforcements have reached FieldMarshal Rommel in sufficient strength not merely to replace losses, but also to give him a small margin over his normal strength. Discussing Field-Marshal Rommel s aim, several authorities in London be-

lieve that in attacking the Eighth Army’s Gazala line on the southern flank he is striking for Tobruk. Rommel knows that Tobruk this time must be taken at all costs if the drive against Egypt is to be held up bv the threat to his seaward flank. His choice of battlefield now suggests according to these authorities, that he hopes to reach Tobruk on the south of its 25 mile perimeter by driving over the El Akba ridge between Bir Hacheim and the sea. It is recalled that the rough country here was the scene of fierce fighting when the Commander-in-Chief i in the Middle East, General Sir Claude Auchinleck, drove Field-Marshal Rommel 300 miles across the desert last winter. STUKAS IN ACTION Rommel’s forces yesterday began their I advance with Stukas blasting the British, but nightfall found the armies still separated by a wide stretch of no man’s land. Rommel’s advance during the night brought him, as our headquarters report, within striking distance of General Auchinleck’s armoured forces southwards of Bir Hacheim, where battle was joined in the early morning. The Cairo correspondent of The Times says the strongest of FieldMarshal Rommel’s columns appears to have started from the vicinity of Tengeder, taking a north-easterly direction, and was last reported around El Teilim,' while the other proceeded due east. While it is inaccurate to describe our position as a line, our forward posts stretch roughly from Gazala to Bir Hacheim, with defences of considerable depth behind them. A major engagement, if it occurs, would be on a far more restricted front than in the last

two Libyan campaigns. BRITISH FORCES STRONGER The correspondent of the Exchange Telegraph Agency with the Bth Army reports that an armoured battle is in progress in what looks like an Axis offensive. An important engagement, in which General von Bismarck’s armoured unit and part of the Africa Corps under General von Nehring are participating. has been raging since early morning. Should the battle become general, indications gathered recently suggest that the Axis can field as many troops and tanks as in the last offensive, but with the disadvantage for them that the British forces have been considerably reinforced and, if not superior in tanks, have enough guns of all calibres with which to meet the enemy. The present operations are being carried on in good weather. Military quarters in Cairo described the terrain of the present battle as not bad for tanks, though not completely flat. The Axis troops are believed to be 45 per cent. Germans and 55 per cent. Italians. The Cairo correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain says the Axis air-power does not appear to be greatly strengthened. All their available planes have been used recently for attacks against the British forward and rear positions

Several important new types of planes await the Germans in Libya, states The Daily Mail’s aeronautical writer. These include Spitfires, adapted for overseas service, and other types still on the secret list.