FORCES CONSIDERED INSUFFICIENT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 July 1941, Page 6

FORCES CONSIDERED INSUFFICIENT

FOR INLAND DRIVE AGAINST EGYPT. HEAVY LOSSES IN SUPPLY SHIPS. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 1.10 p.m.) LONDON, July 14. General Romnel’s African army, comprising two German Panzer divisions, three mechanised divisions and thirteen Italian divisions, at present has insufficient suitable material for a daring inland southward drive against Egypt, which the German High Command planned, says the “Daily Telegraph’s” correspondent in North Africa. German troops and more material are still slipping across the Mediterranean from Sicily to Tripoli. The losses of enemy supply ships are estimated at 25 per cent and are rising. The Germans are very much interested in the construction of a road which the French are pushing on between Columb, Bechar and the Niger River. The Germans demand that this route must be usable by September. This seems impossible, but the demand indicates the importance the Germans attach to effectively tapping West African tungsten, oil, rubber and cotton.