ROMMEL'S EFFORT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 June 1942, Page 3

ROMMEL'S EFFORT

NEW THRUST TOWARDS TOBRUK Battle Fought in Worst Dust Storm for Weeks AIR FIGHTING CONSIDERABLY HAMPERED SIX ENEMY MACHINES BROUGHT DOWN % LONDON, June 14. Axis forces in Libya are now striking hard towards Tobruk, but they have found the British Army waiting for them as full of fight as ever. General Rommel chose to make his big new thrust at the height of the worst dust storm for weeks. Fighting is taking place in a triangular area, 16 miles from Tobruk at the nearest point. The area is bounded by Acroma in the north, Knightsbridge in the west and El Adem in the east. Yesterday, the battle went on until darkness fell and it started again this morning. This evening it was impossible to say which way the battle was turning, because of the clouds of thick dust over the whole area. At Tobruk the garrison is once again standing to arms. The defence lines are manned and the guns are entrenched behind minefields and barbed wire. Convoys are pouring out into the desert. Air fighting was hampered yesterday until the evening by the dust storms. Six enemy machines were brought down. The latest raid on the Axis supply route includes an attack on Benghazi. The Italians say that Taranto was again raided last night. \