MOONLIGHT THRUST

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 May 1941, Page 5

MOONLIGHT THRUST

MADE BY AUSTRALIAN TROOPS ENEMY SALIENT NARROWED. NAZI TANKS & LORRIES WRECKED BY GUNFIRE. LONDON, May 12. Australian infantry at Tobruk last night made a moonlight coun-ter-attack and recaptured several strong points from the Germans. The counter-attack lasted from midnight till the early hours. The Germans used flame-throwers in an attempt to fight off the advancing infantry. The Australians, in spite of a hail of machine-gun bullets and shell-fire from three directions, succeeded in narrowing the German salient and inflicted heavy casualties. The force holding the salient was previously heavily pounded by artillery, which blasted numerous German tanks and lorries, the wreckage of which is strewn over the battlefield. Prolonged bombing of the aerodrome at Derna, an important enemy supply point, has had wonderful results, according to a Royal Air Force communique, which stated that Derna aerodrome, upon which many enemy aircraft were dispersed, was bombed by the R.A.F. during the night of May 9 and yesterday. Electric storms, which were most pronounced, prevented some of the aircraft reaching their target, but others got through, and it is believed that the damage they caused was considerable. At Jedabaya some Junkers 52’s, large troop-carrying aircraft, were bombed and damaged. British fighters maintained active patrols, and one Messerschmitt 109 was destroyed on Gazala aerodrome as it was attempting to take off. There was a large number of enemy aircraft on the aerodrome, and these were machine-gunned. ;