CHASE TO LIBYA

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 39, 10 November 1942, Page 5

CHASE TO LIBYA

German Escapees

Hunted

(British Official Wireless and Press Assn.) (Received November 9, 8.40 p.m.) LONDON, November 8. Allied forces are nearing the Libyan frontier in the unremitting pursuit of the tattered remnants of Rommel s armies. Six Italian infantry divisions which were trapped in the desert have all been captured with their complete equipment. The Italian equipment destroyed or captured includes 300 field and medium guns, 500 anti-tank guns, and 100 anti-aircraft guns.

Ailed heavy and medium bombers continue the nou-stop battering of the retreating enemy. Massed Axis transport, including tanks, is being heavily pounded. The crews are particularly enthusiastic about last night’s work, and reported tremendous damage. The frontier bottleneck at “Helllire Bass’’ is being pounded in au effort to block enemy forces. Most Reach Libya,

Most of. Rommel’s fast-retreating forces have- now been driven from Egypt. This news is contained in a lute message from Cairo, which adds that reports that the Germans were rushing four divisions from Greece to reinforce Rommel have been officially denied in Cairo.

It is stated to be unlikely that they could spare any field divisions from either Russia or France. ■ The full retreat of the panzer army, described in today’s communique, may now be fairly described as a rout, according to military observers in London. This is not taken to mean, however, that no Axis forces will succeed in escaping. Commenting on "the capture of 30,000 or 40,000 prisoners in Egypt, a correspondent says that obviously there are great numbers still to be counted. There are indications that the remnant of the panzer army is dissolving and losing cohesion, he adds. “The Italian prisoners are bitter at the way their German friends deserted them —-virtually delivered them into our handfS,” an observer says. “These shoals of Mussolini’s infantry hadn’t even a chance to be routed, but only like sheep to be rounded up.” Another correspondent says that at the Daba railway station yard fully-loaded railway wagons were left behind by the enemy. On the road to,the .west, he said, it was an amazing sight—a shambles of wrecked vehicles, blown-up, burnt-out, or just standing apparently whole but with the contents strewn out across the ground behind them. Along the road passed convoy after convoy of prisoners. Springing of Trap. From the commanding officer of a tank unit south of Fuka the correspondent heard how the shambles had conic about. He said, “During Wednesday afternoon I was ordered to take the brigade and find the southern flunk of the enemy. We moved out into more open country, and about 10 a.m. on Thursday we found large columns of the enemy streaming westward down the main road. This was quickly blocked by two of the regiments, and a number of enemy tanks, guns, and vehicles were destroyed, and over 1000 prisoners taken.’’

Renter’s correspondent in the Western Desert estimates that Rommel’s force is now. less than 20,000 men, who are being cltased, bypassed, and steadily hunted down. Numerous hurriedly abandoned camps testify to the speed of the British advance. Personal belongings are scattered everywhere. The Eighth Army is' leapfrogging forward similarly to the way in which General Wavell’s army moved when Mussolini’s armies were routed early in the campaign. In a battle south of Kasaba, which is between Bagnell and Mersa Matruh, the Axis used 28 tanks and three 88 millimetre guns. One correspondent states that this is believed to be the major portion of Rommel’s remaining weapons. A member of the Greek Embassy in Washington disclosed that Greek forces participating in the attack against Rommel represent the largest number of fighting men in General Montgomery’s array other than British.

HALFAYA PASS BLOCKED

(Received November 9, 11.30 p.m.)

LONDON, November 9. The road through Halfaya Pass has been blocked as the result of a heavy attack by Allied bombers. A heavy concentration of enemy transport was caught east of Halfaya and was ' bombed and strafed from a height of 500 feet .with telling effect. The remnants of the enemy force must make a detour of six miles around a high escarpment because of the blockage of the pass, which will take days to clear.- Six Junkers 52’s which were believed to be carrying petrol, were shot down.

“ONLY BEGINNING OF TASK”

(British Official Wireless.). RUGBY, November 8. General Montgomery issued the following order of the day on Friday: — , “I feel sure that all ranks will realize the battle we have just won is' only the beginning of our task. There is much to be done yet, and it calls for a supreme effort and great hardship on the part of every officer and man. “Forward, then, to our task of removing the Germans from North Africa. The Germans began this trouble and they must now take the consequences. “They asked for it, and they will now x get it. Let. no officer or man relax. Let us drive ahead westward, destroying the enemy wherever he is met.”