DESERT BATTLE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 November 1940, Page 5

DESERT BATTLE

HEAVY LOSSES INFLICTED ON ITALIANS BRITISH FORCE CAPTURES LORRIES AND GUNS. FIVE ENEMY TANKS DESTROYED. A Cairo communique transmitted by the 8.8. C. states that in a succassful encounter in the Western Desert a British force, at small cost to itself, destroyed five Italian tanks and ■ severely damaged others. Two lorries were destroyed, and two captured, in addition to guns and other equipment. There is definite evidence that the enemy lost 108 killed and some prisoners were taken. In the Gallabat region, in the Sudan, a British party defeated and inflicted losses on a numerically superior enemy patrol. R.A.F. ACTIVITIES. EXTENSIVE AND SUCCESSFUL RAIDS. Eleven Italian aircraft have been shot down by the R.A.F. in operations in the Middle East and extensive raids have been carried out in Libya and Albania. In an air battle between 60 enemy fighters and 15 British planes in eastern Libya, seven of the Italian planes were completely destroyed, five of them being burnt out on the ground. Three others were shot down, but it was impossible to confirm whether they were completely destroyed or not. None of the British planes were damaged. In a raid on an Italian base in Libya, fires were started which could be seen by British aircraft 80 miles away. The only enemy activity on Tuesday night was a raid by one plane, which dropped a few bombs, including one or two incendiaries, in the Suez Canal area. No damage or casualties resulted. An Italian bomber attempting to raid Aden was shot down on Wednesday, and three members of is crew of four were capured. One of them is a colonel in the Italian Air Force. Most of the people of Aden came out of their shelters to see the enemy plane shot down in flames.