MANY TANKS CLASH

Southland Times, Issue 24757, 30 May 1942, Page 5

MANY TANKS CLASH

GERMAN ATTACK IN LIBYA MERRY-GO-ROUND BATTLE (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, May 28. The merry-go-round tank battle is still raging after 36 hours north-east of Bir Hacheim. The enemy has not made any appreciable advance, but fighting is intensifying.. The enemy is being hotly opposed on land and in the air. It is reliably stated in Cairo that the Germans are using “a considerable force of tanks,” while “hundreds” of Imperial tanks are engaged. Reports from war correspondents, revealing details hitherto secret, give a clearer picture of the battleground and the tactics. The British defences consist of a great minefield laid to canalise the German thrusts into’ two areas. Behind the minefield are strongly fortified localities, between which it is possible for enemy tanks to penetrate. The two original German thrusts were dictated by the minefields, and they encountered strong localities at Gazala and Bir Hacheim. The Germans were driven back at Gazala and repulsed at Bir Hacheim, but the Bir Hacheim column divided. One is still being engaged at Bir Hacheim. The other swept north-east to El Adem, where it is being opposed by Imperial tanks in a battle, which is now going on on hilly, rocky ground between Gazala and Tobruk, and among a mass of dug-in positions and strong points, with an all-round field of fire, which the troops are using effectively. Reuters Cairo correspondent reveals that the great minefield was laid in record time early, this year, giving frontal protection to the Imperial forward positions. Ten thousand mines were laid between one dawn and dusk. Well-informed circles suggest that General von Nehring’s blow at Gazala is a feint intended to divert attention from an attempt to smash through in the Bir Hacheim region and swing north-east to Tobruk, but LieutenantGeneral Ritchie is not confused by this manoeuvre. The war correspondent of the Associated Press says that the attack was no surprise! Axis forces were seen gathering for several weeks. Neither Rome nor Berlin has so far referred to the land battles, the communiques detailing only air fights. BLOWS BY RAF. The Royal Air Force is continually attacking airfields and transport columns on the new and swifter air support system, on which the Royal Air Force and the army have long been working. The German air force is unexpectedly passive. It may be that General Kesselring is conserving his strength for heavy blows at the crucial period For the first time German armoured units struck without a close aerial umbrella. Also General Kesselring has made little attempt to pm down the Royal Air Force by divebombing forward aerodromes before the offensive. German fighters have taken up “siege duty” over Malta, suggesting that bombers arc scarce in the Mediterranean, unless they are being stored up elsewhere for an action, which would reveal that the Libyan offensive is merely a diversion. The Evening Standard’s military writer, however, says Field-Marshal Rommel has some of the latest fighters and a powerful armoury of dive-bomb-ers. He knows that British air supremacy beat him last time, and he probably plans to blast a way for the tanks with dive-bombers and simultaneously throw airborne and parachute troops into the interior. Parachute troops massed in Crete may be used to disrupt our communication lines between Mersa Matruh and the desert. Stating that nearly 1000 tanks had been thrown into the battle the Cairo correspondent of The Daily Express adds 1 “Both sides have equal tank and anti-tank forces. Britain is outnumber’d by two to one in infantry, but has dr superiority. Water is a bigger problem for the enemy than ammunition. The tanks must be like roasting ovens in the daytime. On this point an interesting report comes from Istanbul where travellers from Cairo said that the Germans in Libya were using a new type of refrigerated tank, enabling the crews to fight in all temperatures.

STRAFFED FROM AIR Some hours before the enemy’s attack began in Libya R.A.F. fighters operating from forward bases were reconnoitring the Germans’ final pre-

parations and strafing columns and motor transport concentrations. By the time the Axis attack was launched the sky was filled with R.A.F. fighters and bombers, which gave magnificent support to the land forces by harassing the enemy, carrying out fighter sweeps and spotting for the army. Other fighters escorted Bostons in attacks on

transport. Kittyhawks kept up a continuous attack on columns of supply vehicles that followed the advancing armoured cars and tanks along the southern flank of the Allied forces. Columns, including petrol bowsers, were bombed, machine-gunned and wrecked by cannon fire. Again and again they were scattered, overturned and set on fire. Kittyhawks alone destroyed or seriously damaged more than 65 vehicles. Fighters also escorted Bostons on a raid in which a concentration of some 700 motor transport vehicles was attacked and great havoc caused. All the bombs fell plumb on the target and scores of vehicles were destroyed. Four large fires were left burning among the concentration. All the Bostons returned. The heat of a summer day made visibility difficult for the pilots, and sand churned up in thick columns by moving transport was a further handicap. AXIS AIR ATTACKS The Axis air forces had kept up an all-night strafing on roads, landing grounds, camps on principal desert fighter bases of the R.A.F. behind the front lines. They did little or no damage, but lost two aircraft to the defences on the first night and two others were shot dov/n by night fighters, who for weeks have regularly been strafing German and Italian camps by moonlight. The R.A.F. losses throughout Wednesday, the first day of the advance, totalled five, some of the pilots of which may yet turn up.