THREE-PRONGED ATTACK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 December 1941, Page 6

THREE-PRONGED ATTACK

DEVELOPING AGAINST GERMANS IN LIBYA Brief Survey of British Tactics USE OF HEAVY ARTILLERY AGAINST ENEMY TANKS CONSIDERABLE AXIS FORCES STILL NEAR TOBRUK (By Telegraph. —Press Association. —Copyright.) (Received This Day, 10.35 a.m.) LONDON, December 9. The British Commander-in-Chief in the Middle East (General Sir C. Auchinleck) is now trying- to impale General Rommel by a three-pronged attack, south-east, south-west and north-east. The present British tactics coamprise heavy shelling from three sides and harassing the flanks with light tanks. Army observers believe that the British commander has realised the need for more heavy artillery to deal with the heavy enemy tanks, thereby forcing General Rommel on the defensive, and’ to use the British lighter tanks more economically. An authoritative source states that there is still a considerable number of the enemy of all arms on the Tobruk-Bir El Gobi line and also a considerable number which had previously invested Tobruk capable of offering substantial resistance..

An Italian communique reports violent fighting on the Tobruk front between Axis forces and enemy infantry supported by tanks. It adds: “The British are intensely shelling our strong-holds on the Solium front.”