BATTLE OF LIBYA REVIEWED

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 294, 13 December 1941, Page 5

BATTLE OF LIBYA REVIEWED

DID NOT TAKE COURSE EXPECTED

WILL END AS PLANNED GENERAL AUCHINLECK’S TENACITY Rugby, Dec. 11. A review of the Libyan campaign v.as made by the Prime Minister Mr. Churchill, in his war summary in the House of Commons to-day. “The Libyan offensive," he said, “did not take the course its authors expected. although it will reach the end at which they aimed. Very few setpiece battles that have to he prepared over a long period of time work out in the way that is planned and imagined.

“The unexpected intervenes at every stage. The will-power of the enemy impinges itself upon the prescribed and hoped-for course of events. Victory is traditionally elusive. Accidents happen. Mistakes are made. Sometimes the right things turn out wrong, and often the wrong things turn out right. War is very difficult. Still, when all is said and done, dn November 11 General Auchinleck set out to destroy the entire armoured forces of the Germans and Italians in Cyrenaica. Now. on December 11. I am hound to say that it seems very probable that he will do so.

The picture of the battle that was made by our commanders beforehand was one of a far more rapid character than has actually taken place. They had an idea that the whole of the German armoured force would be encountered by our armoured forces in mass at the outset and that the battle would be decided one way or another in a few hours. This might have been the best chance for the enemy. However, the sudden surprise and success of our advance prevented any such main trial of strength between the armoured forces. Almost at the first hound we reached right up to Sidi Rezegh. defeating the enemy armoured force and throwing them into confusion. In consequence, a very large number of fierce detached actions look place over an immense space of desert country, and the battle, though equally intense became dispersed and protracted. It became a widespread and confused battle of extremely high-class combatants mounted upon mechanised transport. lighting in barren lands with the utmost vigour and determination. "Although we have a large standing army in the Middle East, never hare we been able to apply to the desert advance infantry forces numerically equal to those the enemy had gradually accumulated on the coast. For us the foundation of everything was supply and mechanised transport. This was provided on what hitherto had been considered a fantastic scale. Troops’ One Insatiable Desire. "Also, we had to rely upon our superiority in armour and in the air. but most of all in this struggle everything depended for us upon an absolutely' unrelenting spirit in offensive, not only in generals but among the troops and every man and that has been forthcoming. AU the troops have fought all the time in every circumstance of fatigue and hardship with one sincere and insatiable desire—-to engage the enemy and destroy him if possible, tank for tank, man for man. and hand for hand. This is what carried us through. -But behind all these processes working out at so many different points and in so many separate combats has been the persistent will power of General Auchinleck. Without that will power we might easily have subsided on the defensive and lost the precious initiative which, in the Libyan theatre, we have for the felt ourselves strong enough to claim. “The first main crisis of the battle was reached between November 24 and 26. On the 24th General Auchinleck proceeded to battle headquarters, and on the 26th he decided to relieve Lieutenant-General Cunningham and appoint Major-General Ritchie, a comparatively junior officer, to command the Eighth Army instead. This was immediately endorsed by the Minister of State and myself. “Lieutenant - General Cunningham had rendered brilliant service in Abyssinia and was also responsible for the planning and organisation of the present offensive in Libya, which began

with surprise nnd success and whirl', has now definitely turned the corner. He has sjnee been reported by medical authorities to be suffering from serious overstrain, and has been granted sick leave. Sines November 26 the Eighth Army has been commanded with great vigour and skill by MajorGeneral Ritchie, but through nearly the whole time General Auchinleck himself has been at battle headquarters.

“Although the battle is not yet finished, I have no hesitation in saying that, for good or ill. it is General Auchinleck’s battle. Watching these affairs, as it is my duty to do from day to day and even from hour to hour, and seeing the seamy sides of the reports as they come in. I have felt my confidence in General Auchinleck grow’ continually, and although everything is hazardous in war I believe we found in General Wavell, a military figure of the first order. “Our losses of tanks were a good deal heavier than we expected, and it may he that at the outset before it was disorganised, the enemy's recovery processes for damaged vehicles were better than ours. We had. however. a good superiority in numbers ■of armoured vehicles, and In the long I rough and tumble we gradually obtained the mastery as far as the first ! phase of the battle was concerned, i “Our Air Force was undoubtedly 'superior throughout in numbers and ■duality to jhe enemy and although 'the Gormans have drawn in a most | extravagant manner air reinforcements from many quarters, including I the Russian front, that superiority has | been more than maintained. The i greatest satisfaction is expressed by 'our troops and military authorities about the way in which they have been helped and nrotected by the action of the R A F. The Only Open Course. "Like other people concerned. I hoped for a quick decision, but it may well be that this wearing down battle will be found in the end to have inflicted deeper injury on the enemy than if it had all been settled by manoeuvre in a few days. In no other way but in this Libyan attack could a second front have been brought into action under conditions more costly to the enemy and more favourable to ourselves. This will be realised when it is remembered that about half, and sometimes more than half, of everything in munitions and fuel which the enemy sends to Africa is sunk, before it gets there, by our submarines, cruisers and destroyers, and by the activity of our Air Force, acting both from Libya and from Malta.

“I n this way. therefore. Hie prolongation of the battle may yet be not without compensations to use from the point of view of drawing weight from the vast Russian front. Continuance of fighting in its -severity Is not to be regarded as a debit.

“The tirst phase of the battle is now over. The enemy has been driven out of all positions which barred our westward advance —positions which had been most laboriously fought for. It may definitely he said that Tobruk has been relieved.

“The enemy is still strong, but has been severely mauled and largely stripped of his armour, and is retreating to a defensive line west of Tobruk fortress. The clearance of the approaches to Tobruk and the establishment of our air power this far forward to the west in new airfields enables the great supply depots at Tobruk which have been carefully built up to furnish support for the Jsecond phase of the offensive, with i great economy upon our lines of communication. | "Substantial reinforcements and I fresh troops are available at close I hand. Many of the units which w ere ' most heavily engaged have been relieved and their places taken by others. “The enemy, who has fought with the utmost stubbornness and enterprise has paid the price of his failure and it may well he that the second phase will gather more easily the fruits of the first than has been our experience in the fighting which has taken place so far. "The House knows that I have been making it a rule never to prophesy, promise, or guarantee future results, but I will go so far on this occasion as to say that all danger of the Army of the Nile not being able to celebrate Christmas and New Year in Cairo has been decisively removed." Mr. Churchill paid a tribute to th" Cairo spokesman, who. he said, had discharged an extremely difficult task wisely and well.—B.O.W.