GERMAN ATTEMPT TO DRIVE TO TOBRUK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 June 1942, Page 3

GERMAN ATTEMPT TO DRIVE TO TOBRUK

Enemy Tanks Withdrawing Through Minefield Gaps UNDER CEASELESS LAND AND AIR BOMBARDMENT SMASHING ATTACKS ON GERMAN TRANSPORT LONDON, June 1. In Libya the German offensive appears to have failed in what was apparently its chief object—a drive to Tobruk to strengthen the German flank for an advance on Egypt. Enemy supplies are running dangerously low. After many efforts to get convoys through the narrow gaps they broke in. the British minefields the Germans are now withdrawing their tanks through these gaps, under the ceaseless hammering of our artillery and aircraft. . An observer states that though the Germans are m great difficulties they are by no means defeated. Other messages say the great tank battle is still raging and that no decision is yet in sight. The B.B.C’s. war correspondent in the Western Desert, Richard Dimbleby, says our generals are absolutely confident. It is believed that this time the Axis has bitten off more than it can chew. The magnificent cooperation of the British land and air forces has defeated the Gernfans’ first objective, the capture of Tobruk. The R.A.F. is incessantly smashing up enemy transport, causing the Nazi panzer divisions to run short of petrol and munitions. The Admiralty reports that a further considerable tonnage of enemy supply ships in the Mediterranean has been sunk or damaged by British submarines. *