ITALIAN FEARS
AFRAID TO RISK CONVOYS (I'nltea Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyrignt) LONDON, Dec. 13 Speaking of General Rommel’s chances of receiving reinforcements in Libya, a senior naval ifficer at Alexandria said: “They possibly may get some there, but if they hope to land one division they will have to send two. It would take weeks, necessitating several trips across the Mediterranean, since the African bases have little facilities for landing numbers of tanks and armoured vehicles in a hurry. “The Italians definitely appear to be more and more afraid to risk a convoy across the Mediterranean, in spite of Rommel’s urgent need of supplies. Since our recent cruiser successes, Italian convoys have been far less numerous. At the same.time, they are receiving naval escort of increasing number and size in order that some at least may possibly break through the British stranglehold. The officer gave the present size of the Italian fleet as four, possibly five, battleships, 10 cruisers (now possibly seven), and 30 destroyers. He added that German submarines, which had been operating in the Western Mediterranean, were gradually working toward the eastern end.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WT19411215.2.64
Bibliographic details
Waikato Times, Volume 129, Issue 21604, 15 December 1941, Page 6
Word Count
185ITALIAN FEARS Waikato Times, Volume 129, Issue 21604, 15 December 1941, Page 6
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Waikato Times. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in