STH ARMY IS IN GREAT HEART
Realistic Outlook (Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, September 1. Whether the present operations m Egypt are a full-scale offensive or merely local operations events in the next few days will show, says the correspondent of The Times with the Bth Army. Under the new Commander-in-Chief, General Sir Harold Alexander, the Bth Army is in great heart, refreshed, reinforced and eager for action. There is a full realization of the vital importance of throwing back the enemy and it can confidentally be asserted that our men will fight to a finish. The Allied official attitude is neither optimistic or pessimistic, but realistic. For reasons of military strategy and policy there is likely to be little news for the next few days. The military writer of The Times says both sides have been strongly reinforced since the last fighting. The enemy recently received one new German division and one Italian division. The enemy’s force now apparently includes the German 15th and 24th Armoured Divisions, the 19th Light Division and the 164th Division and the Italian Ariete and Vittorio Armoured Divisions, the Brescia, Pavia, Trento, Bologna and Pistoi Divisions. A German parachute battalion has also been identified. All these formations are in the strategic battle zone, but not necessarily close to the front. There may be other Italian divisions in Tripoli. It is an extraordinarily powerful army to maintain in the desert through shattered ports with improvised facilities. There is reason to believe the enemy’s tank strength is not very high and probably the enemy does not possess army and corps troops in adequate strength for an army of 12 divisions. EFFORT TO DELAY ROMMEL The Daily Mail’s Cairo correspondent says the Allied forces have made no real attempt to stop Field-Marshal Rommel’s advance, only to delay him. Therefore, his advance is regarded as slow and no pessimism is felt here concerning it. From the Allies’ viewpoint the battle has not yet begun. FieldMarshal Rommel has merely moved into what is regarded as a huge no-man’s land. Field-Marshal Rommel has advanced eight miles in his new push in the southern sector of the El Alamein front, says Reuter’s Cairo correspondent. The advance was made through Allied minefields. The Axis attempt to punch through the centre of the El Alamein line has been firmly held and the situation there is described as being fully under control. Heavy fighting continues in the southern sector. The Germans are using all types of equipment, including heavy tanks and dive-bombers. By the light of the waning moon two strong Axis columns thrust towards Lieutenant-General B. L. Montgomery’s fluid southern sector at 1 o’clock yesterday morning. Allied artillery and air forces vigorously attacked German tanks, which were accompanied by big formations of motor transport, as they pushed forward, along the dry riverbeds. GERMAN INFANTRY SHELLED Field-Marshal Rommel’s 90th Light Division was heavily shelled as it became entangled in a minefield. It was then engaged by our infantry. Allied tank forces did not make contact with the enemy throughout yesterday. The Axis forces have slightly withdrawn from the point reached a little to the north-east of El Himeimat, which is the hill position around which the main fighting proceeded all day. This was the farthest point of the Ax’s advance. The British United Press correspondent with the Bth Army says that FieldMarshal Rommel’s advance is characterized by extreme caution. The German tanks are mostly Mark Ill’s, which are not attacking in a body, but are widely spread out in clusters. ITALY’S NAVAL LOSSES (8.0.W.) RUGBY, September 1. It is officially stated by the First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr A. V. Alexander, that 2,366,000 tons of Axis merchant shipping has either been sunk or damaged in the Mediterranean since Italy entered the war on June 11, 1940, including 1,479,000 tons entirely destroyed. The enemy has also lost in the Mediterranean four 8-inch gun cruisers, five 6-inch gun cruisers, and about 50 destroyers and miscellaneous craft. Axis submarine losses cannot be disclosed, but they are known to be considerable. Half of the Italian Navy’s striking power has been destroyed and twothirds of the Italian merchant fleet has been sunk or damaged.
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Southland Times, Issue 24839, 3 September 1942, Page 5
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695STH ARMY IS IN GREAT HEART Southland Times, Issue 24839, 3 September 1942, Page 5
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