VITAL CONFLICT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 June 1942, Page 3

VITAL CONFLICT

BRITISH AIR COMMANDER’S SURVEY ENEMY MUST BE: GETTING PRETTY WORRIED. DESTRUCTION OF STUKAS. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON. June 6. . The commander of the Imperial Air Forces in the .battle of Libya, . Air Vice-Marshal Coningham, , when interviewed today by the ; “Sunday Times’ ” correspondent in the Western Desert, stressed the < vital character of the “cauldron” battle, which, he said, will decide the results of this campaign. He added that the enemy must be getting pretty worried about his vaunted Stukas. “The Allied pilots during the first part of the present battle concentrated against tanks and infantry, and did damned well,” Vice-Marshal Coningham continued. “Now that we have got the edge on the enemy, and the boys have had time for other pursuits, I have had them out Stuka-hunting recently round Bir Hacheirn. They have done a pretty piece of business to those over-rated Nazi crates. “These Nazis are truculent so-and-so’s, and I do not speak to them when they are brought in. There are already enough blots on the desert landscape without my seeing any more unnecessarily. What I am interested in is killing as many as possible, and these are my orders to the pilots. “The enemy has plenty of planes. Benghazi is crowded with ships unloading about 2000 tons daily, but we are not worried. It will be grand booty when we reach it.”