The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1941 WAVELL'S FEAT REPEATED

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 184, 24 November 1941, Page 4

The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1941 WAVELL'S FEAT REPEATED

THE same swift onslaught .initiated by General Wavell eighteen months ago when the limited Imperial and Australian fcrce all but cleared Libya of its Italian masters, appears to be likely of the present campaign. The cheeiing news of the relief of Tobruk, the heroic defenders of which had defied all attempts to dislodge them for the past fifteen months, came quickly on the heels of the news of the fifty mile advance in a single day. German and Italian prisoners are pouring into the base camps, while in all mechanised engagements the invading forces have been superior. "Our friends, the Germans will save us,," declares Signor Ansaldo in the Rome broadcasts, but from the Berlin studios, Dr Goebbels treats the outcome of the campaign as of little account. Thus the twin Axis powers view the position in entirely divergent lights. The third, and from our point of view the most important, is the British attitude. To. us the outcome of the second Libyan campaign is everything. From the lips of the great Churahill himself 'the men taking part mav be writing anew in the pages of history, battles, the outcome of which may rival in importance Blenheim or Waterloo.' Sweeping up the barren coast line, the Royal Navy is playing its part in no uncertain manner. The known resistance points are being pulverised by the great guns of H.M. ships, while thousands of marines are held in readiness to effect a co-operative landing should, it be found necessary to do so. For the second time the hitherto invincible panza divisions have been worsted, beaten at theii own game by an enemy prepared and armed as they themselves. From land, sea and air the attack is maintained with a thoroughness, which according to neutral observeis is little short of amazing. Rolling on towards the key town of Tripoli the Empire hopes to see the victorious Wavell campaign re-enacted and this time, permanently concluded, ex pelling for ever the Italian footing in Africa which has so long constituted a threat to Egypt and the vital life-line of the Suez Can',l. Such, a victory will not only encourage the enslaved states of the Eastern Mediterranean to greater hope, taut will also stiffen the Turkish attitude towards the blandishments of Von Papen and the notorious Ribbontrop. Its outcome may therefore be regarded as the first preliminary to the British offensive for which the world has been waiting.