HARDEST OF WAR

Southland Times, Issue 24765, 9 June 1942, Page 5

HARDEST OF WAR

FIERCE BATTLES IN LIBYA INFERNO OF DUST AND SAND (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, June. 7. Three battles are now raging in Libya, the first around “the Knightsbridge Box,” which is a fortified slit-trenched hill held by a Guards’ brigade and artillery and protected by minefields; the second on the outskirts of “the Devil’s Cauldron” and the third south of Bir Hacheim. The fighting is the worst that the British troops have known in this war. The battle area is an inferno of dust, sand and heat, while thirst is a constant torment. A large new enemy armoured column which was seen from the air approaching the gap in the British minefields, managed to penetrate to Knightsbridge where it was attacked by Allied armoured units. This fighting was extremely fierce but the Allied forces gradually managed to gain the upper hand. They captured Bir Hamat, six miles southwest of Knightsbridge, and hold Tamar firmly. At “the Devil’s Cauldron” the Germans apparently decided to make a counter-attack as the best method of getting out of a bad position. They relied on the sting in the tail of the columns but here, as at Knightsbridge, the advantage lies with the Allies. They are recovering many of their damaged tanks and are repairing them swiftly. Indeed, they are using at present tanks knocked out in the early stages of the fighting. This the Germans have been unable to do. At Bir Hacheim the Free French forces are holding firmly to their position. TANK BATTLE Reuters correspondent in the Western Desert says that he watched a tank battle sway over the desert. The sky was lit by Verey lights, and gun flashes, and 50 lorries blazed in a valley below. Whenever the panzers came within range our artillery drove them back. German long-range guns, attempting to knock out our guns, hurled shell after shell into Knightsbridge for an hour, but not a man nor a gun was hit. The guardsmen stood up in their slit trenches and cheered as a British cruiser tank charged a German tank, which was pinned against a minefield. The German tank exploded after a direct hit from point blank range. The British tank crashed into the wreckage but backed out safely. BITTER ATTACKS REPELLED Bir Hacheim has successfully resisted bitter new tank attacks, which followed an intense battering from 80 German guns and 70 Stukas, reports The Daily Telegraph’s correspondent in Libya. The correspondent of The Times in the Western Desert states that a German column, which skirted Bir Hacheim and attempted to take the British from the rear, was 18 miles long and consisted of 50 to 70 tanks, 2000 motor transports, motorized infantry and mobile artillery. Another German column, which reached the neighbourhood of El Adem was not merely a raiding column but was intended to make a large-scale and determined counter-attack against our flank. Imperial troops, using mostly light tanks which the Germans outgunned and outranged, engaged the enemy and managed to deflect the column. They hung on until heavier armoured units arrived.

The correspondent, reviewing the campaign says, “The ability to deliver a knock-out blow depends on the number of heavy tanks we can throw in. We are much stronger in fire-power than we were in previous campaigns, but we could well be stronger still. Even when in vastly superior numbers, light tanks are practically impotent against the heavily armoured German medium and heavy tanks.” A Cairo message reports that swarms of Imperial fighters, and fighter bombers were over the German forces in “The Devil’s Cauldron” without respite pouring down hundreds of bombs and hundreds of rounds of cannon fire. One pilot said the area was a confused mass of fire-belching vehicles.