A BACKGROUND OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 35, 5 November 1942, Page 4

A BACKGROUND OF THE WAR

Progress In Libya CRUCIAL PHASE OF THE BATTLE

It would appear that after nine days of intensive fighting against a most tenacious enemy the infantry of the Eighth Army, entrusted with the onerous task of forcing an opening in the enemy’s prepared defences, have succeeded in providing an opportunity for the massed armour to begin a thrust into the enemy's back areas. The passage through the enemy defences has apparently been opened immediately south Of the railway and road which parallels the Mediterranean coast at a distance of about two miles. North of these lines of communication,’ in the sandy and marshy terrain, enemy forces remain, supported by a few tanks which broke through to join them at the weekend. Whether the Australian forces which are operating in the most northern sector of the battlefront have managed to retain the narrow corridor to the sea, which they held toward the end of last week, is not clear, but whether they do or not, the position of the enemy troops penned up in the coastal strip must be most precarious. " . Battlefront

Speaking from the desert, the reporter, Denis Johnston, said in a dispatch given- in the 8.8. C. “radio newsreel,” that the battlefront had taken on a most fantastic line. There were reports, he said, of German troops attacking in a westward direction, and of United Nations forces striking northward.

There has been little or no mention of fighting taking place in the southern part of the line since the initial attack, when it was announced, that the Eighth Army had launched an offensive all along the El Alainein front. In the past few days communiques and correspondents’ reports have only mentioned the northern part, and it would appear that little if any advance has been made in the south., If this estimate of the position is correct, the battle line would appear to have taken on the .appearance of a reversed question mark, the top portion of the loop beginning about the Tel el Isa railway station and the tail running due southward to the Quattara Depression in the region of Mount el Himeimat. Since the enemy defence line was originally believed to be about three to four miles in depth, and. has Yiow been breached by the infantry, the big. tank battle reported in progress is likely to be taking place about four miles due west of Tel e.l Isa station, where the curve o®the question mark begins to turn southward. A Decisive Phase Upon the outcome of the tank engagement much is likely to depend. If the heavily reinforced armour of the Eighth Army, consisting as it is said to do of more modern and heavier tank types than those which were eclipsed In the battle round Tobruk a few months ago, can overcome the Afrika Korps’ seasoned types, it is possible that there will be an early return of the war of movement of the nature common to all previous North African campaigns.

The frontal assault on the Axis line was compelled by the resting of its flanks on the Mediterranean and the Quattara Depression, but now the opening for the tanks is made, and they will have to show sufllcient strength to exploit it. Then the old conditions >may return, with outflanking sweeps again possible. The only news of the armoured engagement available at time of writing is the remark of a tank captain, whose vehicle had withdrawn for’repair, that it is a “slogging match.” Rommel’s Tactics . * The fact that German forces have been left precariously hemmed in on the narrow coastal belt suggests that Field-Marshal Rommel, has decided, in the event of the British tank brigades gaining the day, to leave pockets of troops behind as he retreats, just as he did when driven back by General Ritchie early this year. On. that occasion the sacrifice of troops to hold the “Hellfire Pass” position and Bardia eased considerably the task of the remaining troops in bringing the British advance to a standstill. The use of the normal lines of supply was denied to the advancing British, and considerable forces had to be left behind the battlefront to contain the Axis garrisons. This force along the Mediterranean coast in the present battle is serving the same purpose, whether its communications with the main Axis forces are still open or not. The road and railway west of El Alamein are useless to the Eighth Army. ' . A breakaway by the United Nations armoured forces would probably mean that these troops were doomed to capture or death, but what of the forces still holding the southern section <> p the Axis line? There would be no sucli strong justification for their being left behind. They would certainly be an embarrassment to the United Nations communications and would call for a considerable force to contain them, but. in view of Italian estimates of the new strength of General Montgomery’s forces, that would not be sufficient to save the remnants of Rommel’s armies, which were said, at the be si“ n }“S ° the battle, to amount to IuO.OOO to 180,000 men. The next few days of the conflict, will be crucial. If the United Nations forces gain the day the possibilities will be immense.