NAZI THRUST

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 May 1941, Page 5

NAZI THRUST

HAMPERED BY ROYAL AIR FORCE SUCCESSFUL OPERATIONS IN NORTH AFRICA. DAMAGE DONE TO BASES & SHIPS. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, May 28. In North Africa the R.A.F. is hampering the German preparations for an attack on Egypt. Benghazi has again been raided and fires started and a building demolished. Shipping off the North African coast was also attacked. Direct hits were scored on two enemy merchant ships of 8,000 and 10,000 tons. The Germans also lost a troop-carrying plane which was shot down over Tobruk. A fighter which made a forced landing near Sidi Barrani was captured. The satisfactory position in Abyssinia has enabled the transfer of aircraft from that country to North Africa and Iraq. The South African Air Force is still attacking the remnants of the Italian forces in Abyssinia and has bombed and machine-gunned the enemy aerodrome at Gondar and other positions in that area. In Syria another attack has been made on aircraft at Aleppo. Only two British planes were •lost in all these operations. There is no change in the situation in Tobruk. On the Egyptian frontier German forces are again active. In the face of the superior strength of the enemy, the British forces have temporarily withdrawn from "Hellfire" Pass, south of Solium. FLUID FRONT GERMAN ADVANCE HELD. BEYOND "HELLFIRE" PASS. LONDON, May 27. Fighting is progressing on the Western Desert on a fluid front of 40 miles, along which we are holding an attempted advance by four German armoured columns, states a Cairo message. The Germans on the frontier yesterday afternoon attacked from three directions. One column, comprising a number of tanks with motorised infantry, advanced from Fort Capuzzo toward "Hellfire” Pass, along the edge of the escarpment, which runs parallel with the sea. A British force under one-quarter its size engaged the column and held it up all night. The British troops, however, were this morning compelled to retire from the pass in face of the Germans’ great weight. By noon the British had consolidated new positions about a mile from the pass, where they are now holding the Germans. Simultaneously with this push the Germans threw two armoured columns south from Capuzzo to cover the right flank of the main advance. Our mobile units opposed these columns, and all last night the battle swayed back and forth across miles of open country. This morning our forces were reported to be holding the Germans south of Spit um. 'A fourth German column, whose role appears to be to support the other columns, is advancing slowly due east from a point on the frontier south of Capuzzo. This column has not yet attempted to join battle. The German push does not appear to herald a general effort to penetrate further into Egypt. Their objective seems to be to secure a position protecting their right flank and their communications from Fort Capuzzo and Bardia from harassing by our fast-moving columns. The Berlin radio stated that German bombers supporting troops in North Africa attacked 60 tanks and destroyed some of them. ITALIAN DESTROYER NOW KNOWN TO HAVE BEEN SUNK. LONDON. May 28. The Italian destroyer reported lost Friday as having been probably sunk while on the way to Libya is now known to have been destroyed.