DEFENCE OF TOBRUK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 January 1941, Page 6

DEFENCE OF TOBRUK

SIGNS OF WEAK HOLO BY ITALIANS STAND MAY BE ATTEMPTED FURTHER WEST. IN RUGGED MOUNTAIN AREA. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright i i Received This Day. 1.15 p.m.) LONDON. January 9. The inactivity of the Italain defences of Tobruk strengthens the belief held by military observers in Cairo that the Italians do not intend to make a determined stand

at Tobruk. Several war correspondents suggest that Tobruk may fall even more rapidly than Bardia. It is believed that the Italians will make a stand in the rugged Jebel Akbar mountains, a hundred miles west of Tobruk.

Military circles in London believe that only by applying the lessons learned so painfully in France has General Sir A. Wavell seen all his operations move so satisfactorily. Because the public may not fully appreciate this, there is a tendency to overlook. in triumphant shouting about the noteworthy exploits of the land forces, the very vital parts played by British air and sea forces.

Large parties of Italian prisoners are being dispatched from Bardia daily, but no appreciable difference seems to have been made in the huge dark green masses within the compounds, states a correspondent. When captured. many of the enemy soldiers were in a state of complete exhaustion. The Italian seems to knock up very quickly. Medical officers are amazed at the stoic courage of their wounded, in contrast with their conduct for the most part in battle when the pressure is really on’. x .