ROMMEL BOXED MANY HITS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 July 1942, Page 3

ROMMEL BOXED

MANY HITS

ACCORDING TO LONDON WRITER ENCLOSED BY MASSED ' ARTILLERY. R.A.F. PUTTING ON LID. LONDON, July 7. “The news from the Western Desert is the most encouraging for many days,” says the “Daily Mail’s” military correspondent. “Rommel is now placed inside a box, the northern side of which is about seven miles long, and the line then swings 10 miles south and 10 miles west, then coming north again to leave a gap of more than four to five miles wide at the north-western corner. Our massed artillery is laying across this gap one of the heaviest barrage curtains of fire the British have laid down in this war.” Rommel’s panzers lie in the centre of the box, and our guns are attacking them from the north-east, east and south-east, and our tanks are attacking from the south-west. The massed batteries are raking the desert with streams of crossfire, and the R.A.F. is putting the lid on the box with a nonstop bombing assault. “One fact emerges clearly: Rommel must get on or get out. No army in the world can remain inactive in such a, position. We must recognise that this knowledge will render Rommel more dangerous than ever.” The Eighth Army has retained the initiative after another day’s continuous fighting west of El Alamein. A.ll the attempts of the enemy to break through have been beaten back, and General Auchinleck is not allowing Rommel a minute’s rest. Reuter’s Cairo correspondent says the battle is now swinging over a wide area fronting the El Alamein positions, with highly mobile British, New Zealand, South African and Indian battle groups continuously shelling the enemy’s flank. Reinforcements for the Eighth Army are still steadily moving up.

SCORED BY OUR BOMBERS FIGHTERS ATTACKS IN AND BEYOND BATTLE AREA. ENEMY PLANES & TRANSPORT SUFFER HEAVILY. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.20 a.m.) RUGBY, July 7. Details of air operations issued by the R.A.F. Middle East news service show with what courage and success 1 the British air arm is assisting the land forces in the grim Battle of Egypt. It is stated that in successful bomber and fighter attacks on the El Daba landing grounds yesterday, a direct hit was scored on one Messerschmitt 109 and two others were left smoking, while many were damaged. Lined-up enemy fighters were machine-gunned. Our fighters and bombers attacked transport vehicles and bombed Heinkels and other aircraft near the battle area later in the day. A number of direct hits were scored on a transport column and on a German armoured unit to the west of El Alamein. Confusion was caused and many of the enemy troops were killed. At least thirteen lorries were destroyed between Mersa Matruh and Tobruk when our long-range fighters carried out surprise raids. Heavy bombers of the R.A.F. and the United States Army Air Corps successfully raided Benghazi during the day. Direct hits were scored on ships and several fires were started. ' Further details are available of night attacks by our bombers on the night of July 6. The battle area near El Alamein was heavily bombed and transport vehicles and supply columns were hit. Enemy landing grounds, particularly the main landing ground at Fuka, were raided and fires resulted. Enemy aircraft were active over Malta on the nights of July 5 and 6. On July 5, enemy bombers, with a Messerschmitt escort, were driven off before they had crossed the coast. On the following day the enemy continued his attacks but caused little damage. During the two days’ operations, our fighters shot down two Axis bombers and seven fighters, besides damaging many others. Enemy aircraft operating over the Nile Delta during the night of July 6 were intercepted. One was shot down and another badly damaged. The Cairo anti-aircraft defences went into action. From all the operations, four of our aircraft are missing.

POTENTIAL DANGER

FROM ARAB FIFTH COLUMN. AXIS AGENTS WORKING BUSILY. LONDON, July 6. The Istanbul correspondent of “The Times” says: “The Axis political offensive which aims at convincing the Arabs that they have nothing to fear from the Axis causes no surprise here. German and Italian agents have long been busy in the Arab countries establishing propaganda _ and _ fifth column centres, and it is believed that despite the British measures the Mufti of Jerusalem and Rashid Ali, the Iraki rebel leader, are still making contact with their followers. “A great many Arabs hope for victory by the Axis, and it would be a great mistake to under-estimate the danger which may arise from their activities.”