ABORTIVE ATTEMPT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 November 1941, Page 5

ABORTIVE ATTEMPT

TO STEM NEW ZEALAND ADVANCE AXIS TROOPS MOVE EAST FROM TOBRUK AREA. HEROISM OF BRITISH TANK CREWS. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, Novembe'r 26. The Germans and Italians investing Tobruk left their entrenchments on November 24 and have moved eastward along the escarpments in a desperate attempt to stem the New Zealanders’ advance along the coastal road, says the British United Press correspondent with the Eighth Army. As the German troop transport columns race across the desert Royal Air

Force bombers and fighters are roaring overhead spraying the men and machines with their deadly fire. British planes in waves of 50 and 100 maintained the offensive throughout November 24, landing long enough only to refuel and reload. The New Zealanders’ morale is particularly high since the capture of Gambut. Imperial reinforcements in men and material, well protected by the air force, are being brought up in a steady stream into the great battle at Sidi Rezegh. There is no sign that the enemy has been able to bring up fresh troops. There is still no front in the ordinary sense of the word in this battle, and the fighting is more a series of skirmishes than a pitched battle, with hand-to-hand fighting in many l

places. A correspondent tells of some British tanks moving over the battle zone looking for vulnerable opposition, while; in other places surrounded Nazi units are battling like trapped lions as well as taking the offensive. The correspondent says that perhaps this is the final struggle, but it will continue for days or possibly weeks. For sheer cold heroism there can have been little in this or any other war to beat British tank crews who, equipped with lighter guns and thinner armour, have fought off massive German medium tanks armed with guns twice the size, says “The Times” correspondent with a British armoured brigade. To ensure that the German panzers would be brought to action it was necessary to make a bold attempt to contain them within the triangle of Sollum-Sidi Omar-Tobruk. This involved a division of our armoured forces, whereas the Germans were able to

concentrate against one of our brigades. After seeing the disposition of the British forces, General Rommel has been trying to knock out the British tank brigades one by one. It is officially stated. in Cairo that from the beginning of the Libya offensive, from dawn on November 18 till midnight on November 23, the R.A.F. destroyed 119 enemy aircraft--51 in aerial combats and 68 on the ground. Because of the difficult nature of the terrain and the fluctuating area of the land battle it is not possible accurately to assess the enemy aircraft losses day by day. Travellers from the Balkans reaching Ankara say that three or four trainloads of German troops and war materials recently passed through Skoplje bound for Salonika for the purpose of going to Libya.