WELL SUSTAINED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 March 1942, Page 3

WELL SUSTAINED

BRITISH BOMBING ATTACKS ON CVRENAICA MAIN GERMAN AIR BASE IN CYRENAICA. MIDDLE EAST FORCES HELPING RUSSIA. LONDON. March 24. In Libya, our planes are keeping up their attacks on Martuba, the German main air base in Cyrenaica. Yesterday Boston bombers of the South African Air Force, escorted by Kittyhawk fighters, landed every one of their bombs on the target, damaging enemy dispersed planes and transport. Two enemy planes were shot down. One of them burst into, pieces in mid-air. Three of our planes are missing. In patrol actions in the Tmimi area, our forces, in spite of enemy shelling, captured a number of enemy vehicles. The contribution macle to the Battle of Russia by the Battle of Libya is emphasised by the Soviet Army newspaper “Red Star.” It observes that the superiority gained by the Soviet Air Force is due to the fact that a large part of the German Air Force is fully engaged over the Mediterranean.

VERY SUCCESSFUL RECENT BRITISH RAID. GERMANS USING RUSSIAN GUNS. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 9.52 a.m.) RUGBY, March 24. Authoritative London quarters state that the recent British raid against enemy positions in Libya was very successful and that many more prisoners were taken than the number of casualties suffered by our forces. The exact figure is awaited. The fact that the Germans were found to be using Russian guns is not considered here as necessarily indicating that the Germans are short of material as indeed, as far as possible, it has been the British practice, to use captured material. Large quantities of captured Italian equipment were employed during' the British campaigns in Abyssinia and Greece.

FIVE ENEMY PLANES • DESTROYED OVER LIBYA AND MEDITERRANEAN. AGAINST LOSS OF THREE BRITISH MACHINES. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 9.52 a.m.) RUGBY, March 24. A R.A.F. Middle East communique announces: “The enemy landing ground at Martuba was again attacked by our bombers on Monday. Messerschmitt 109’s, which attempted interception, were successfully attacked by Kittyhawks ,which destroyed two enemy aircraft On the same day, during an attack on our shipping in the Mediterranean, Hurricanes and Spitfires shot down three enemy bombers, in addition to damaging many others. “Three of our aircraft are missing.