HAMMERED AS THEY GO

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 December 1941, Page 3

HAMMERED AS THEY GO

GERMANS AND ITALIANS IN LIBYA Retreat Becoming Rout in Places HEAVY ENEMY LOSSES OF MEN AND MATERIAL DARING AND SUCCESSFUL WORK BY BRITISH MOBILE COLUMNS LONDON, December 23. In Libya the hammering’ of the retreating German and _ Italian forces continues. In the Jedabaya area and on the road to El Agheila large numbers of enemy troop lorries and other transport vehicles have been destroyed. Many enemy planes have been destroyed by our aircraft in the air and on the ground, and a British land mobile column destroyed 37 enemy aircraft on the Jedabaya Aerodrome. Our land forces are moving so swiftly that headquarters in Cairo can hardly keep pace with their rapidity. Today s communique reports a continued pursuit of the enemy forces in extremely bad weather. Our forward troops have been reinforced and pressure on the enemy south of Benghazi is being steadily increased. Our mobile columns have reached the coastal plain skirting the Gulf of Sirte. The amount of war material abandoned suggests that in some places the enemy retreat is developing into a rout.