BITTER COMMENT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 June 1942, Page 3

BITTER COMMENT

ON TOBRUK SURRENDER COMMENT OF THE LONDON “EVENING NEWS.’ EVENT NOT TO BE SLURRED OVER. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 9.30 a.m.) LONDON, June 22. “There are very few who delude themselves today that we are winning the war or have any apparent prospect of winning it on present form,” says the “Evening News,” in a leader. “Since Singapore and Tobruk, the list of reverses mounts up relentlessly. Our arms have achieved no enduring triumphs on land and only a few small successes, such as in Madagascar, against weak opponents. Retreats and evacuations are becoming retreats and surrender. The time has come when defeats of the magnitude of Tobruk are defeats which may have incalculable consequences. They can no longer be slurred over as unavoidable disappointments, for which nobody, either at home or abroad, should be blamed and held accountable.” AGAIN INTENSIFIED ENEMY AIR RAIDS ON MALTA. THREE PLANES DESTROYED & OTHERS DAMAGED. LONDON, June 22. Malta has again been raided by Axis aircraft. During the last 24 hours three enemy aircraft were destroyed and others damaged. Enemy air activity last night was greater than for several weeks past. Two sharp bombing attacks were made. MOBILE FORCES CONTACT WITH ENEMY IN LIBYA. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) (Received This Day, 9.30 a.m.) LONDON, June 22. A Cairo headquarters communique states: “Our mobile forces were in contact with an enemy column on Sunday near Sidi Azeiz, about twelve miles north-westward of Fort Capuzzo. There is no further news from Tobruk which must be presumed to have fallen.” AN ENEMY VIEW “SURPRISING ACHIEVEMENT.” (Received This Day, 9.30 a.m.) LONDON, June 22. The Berlin “Volkischer Beobachter,” ' commenting on the fall of Tobruk, said those who had heard of the strength of : the Tobruk defences doubtless reckoned on a longer siege, and the fact that General Rommel’s desert troops took it by assault at a first blow, without big artillery preparations, “is a . surprising deserving of the highest admiration.”