Wairarapa Times-Age TUESDAY, JUNE 23, 1942. A HEAVY BLOW IN LIBYA.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 June 1942, Page 2

Wairarapa Times-Age TUESDAY, JUNE 23, 1942. A HEAVY BLOW IN LIBYA.

TO what extent justification exists for the outburst of criticism T the fall of Tobruk lias prompted in London and elsewhere is an open question. The serious immediate effect of the Allied retreat in Libya in itself, and also as narrowing' the margin by which Egypt and the Suez Canal are held secure and in other respects, is of course self-evident. A good many people may be wondering whether it was worth while attempting again to hold Tobruk against the overwhelming attack the enemy on tins occasion was able to launch against it —whether, that is to say, it would not have been better in the circumstances to withdraw the garrison, along with the rest of the Eighth Army, to the Egyptian frontier. If the explanation is that the enemy’s striking power was under-estimated, questions of detail responsibility .and. failure may be involved. In the event, a large body oi. British. and Indian troops —25.000 men according to enemy communiques received yesterday—has fallen into the hands of the enemy, together with considerable quantities of war material. Presumably 7 if would have been feasible to withdraw the garrison and to remove or destroy much of the material with which Tobruk was equipped and supplied. Whether, in view of what was known about the strength of the advancing Axis forces, the decision to attempt to hold the fortress was justified certainly 7 seems to be open to inquiry. Apart from the direct and heavy loss of men and material suffered in the fall of Tobruk, it is plain that the British and Allied position in the Mediterranean has been weakened somewhat seriously 7 by Rommel’s latest advance. With the whole Libyan coastline now in his possession, the enemy 7 has gained important additional air bases. Besides driving the British and Allied forces back to the Egyptian frontier, he has intensified the conditions, described a few days ago by 7 the well-known air commentator, Major Oliver Stewart —conditions in which Axis land-based planes are able to operate from both sides against Allied ships in the narrows of the Mediterranean, between Crete and North Africa, so that, in Major Stewart’s words: — The British sea forces are being squeezed into the eastern pocket of the Mediterranean, and convoys must fight ever more furiously to get through. At the same time the great (air) supply line across Africa, along which United States material has been flowing, is placed in peril. These disabilities of course would have been incurred on account of the enforced retreat of the Eighth Army 7 to the Egyptian frontier even had Tobruk been held successfully 7 as an isolated British outpost. It is here that uncertainty perhaps may arise as to the validity 7 of some of the cabled comment on the latest developments in Libya. One of the suggestions advanced is that the situation can be redressed only 7 by strengthening the British and Allied forces in Egypt to an extent that will enable them to sweep Rommel’s forces back in decisive defeat. This in itself undoubtedly is highly 7 desirable. A successful Allied advance into Libya would not only 7 repel the threat to Egypt which at the moment is somewhat seriously 7 intensified, but would help materially 7 to extend British naval and air control of the Mediterranean and also to strengthen whatever barriers are now opposed to Axis aggression against Turkey 7 and other areas in the Middle East. All this being said, however, it seems possible that the setbacks suffered in the Western Desert—with the loss of Tobruk figuring in the total picture only as a detail, though a disconcerting and tragic detail —may 7 be due initially 7 to a decision on the part of the Allied High Command to divert strength from Libya to other areas of war regarded as still more important. There may 7 be no full disclosure of the facts until after the war has been fought and won, but some significant details have been mentioned. For instance, at the meeting held in London to celebrate the anniversary of the Anglo-Soviet Alliance, Mr L. Burgin, M.P., said the British army 7 was fighting in Libya knowing that many 7 tanks which would have offered better resistance to General Rommel had been sent to Russia. It is possible, too, that both personnel and material which otherwise would have gone to Libya have been reserved for the opening of the second front in Europe which has been and is demanded so strongly 7 On both sides of the Atlantic. Should this be true, action in areas far removed from North Africa may 7 contribute in an important degree to a solution of the critical problems now raised there and in adjacent regions.