AIR TRANSPORT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 November 1941, Page 5

AIR TRANSPORT

ENEMY BRINGING UP SUPPLIES SIGNS OF GROWING DRAIN ON MANPOWER. FEATURES OF TANK FIGHTING. LONDON, November 24. The Axis is bringing up by planes and roads anti-tank guns, machineguns and ammunition from rear bases, says the British United Press correspondent at desert headquarters. Our pilots already report an increase in anti-aircraft fire. An examination of the German prisoners indicates the drain on Germany’s manpower, says the Associated Press correspondent at the desert headquarters. One group of prisoners comprised old reservists who were due for their final mobilisation last year. Another group which recently arrived in Libya included several who had been just released from hospital, and some are still wearing bandages on unhealed wounds.

The desert tank battles usually occur at a range of 300 to 800 yards, though often as much as 1200 yards, says the “Daily Telegraph’s” Cairo correspondent. The battles extend over a vast area, and the tanks manoeuvre firing continuously till one side has lost such a proportion of its forces that the survivors make off. Fire-power, speed and armour are the three decisive factors, and the American tanks have shown a superiority over the Germans in these respects, particularly in repeatedly outpacing their opponents and being able to take heavy punishment. The human losses in these actions are comparatively low, and it is not uncommon for a tank to be knocked out without casualties to the crew.