Late News ROMMEL’S PLANS

Southland Times, 16 October 1942, Page 5

Late News ROMMEL’S PLANS

PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENCE (Rec. 1.25 a.m.) LONDON, October 14. The Axis forces in Egypt have abandoned all their offensive dispositions, reports The Daily Telegraph’s Cairo correspondent. Field-Marshal Erwin Rommel has changed his plans with Teutonic thoroughness and the Alamein front has been intensively wired and mined with a view to making it impregnable. The main Axis positions across the Alamein neck are being steadily increased in depth and now extend back nearly three miles. “The visit of General Smuts may accord a portent of the coming inevitable battle for Egypt,” says The Daily Express in a leading article. “The weight of the air attacks against Malta reveals the importance of the convoys now reinforcing Field-Marshal Rommel and the presence of U-boat packs off Africa shows how much the Axis desires to interrupt our Middle East reinforcements. The cutting of this route has been given priority in German war plans. For Germany and for us victory in Egypt could provide the master-key to winning the war.” WAR PRISONERS’ CAMP BURNED IN RAID LONDON, October 14. The British Government will ask the Swiss Government to obtain full information regarding radio reports of a war prisoners’ camp being burned out in the Royal Air Force raid on Kiel last night, says The Daily Telegraph’s political correspondent. If the report is officially confirmed a strong protest will be made against the deliberate placing of prisoners near military objectives. German propaganda has suggested the possibility of a general transfer of prisoners to areas where Royal Air Force raids are likely.