POSITION DIFFICULT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 June 1942, Page 3

POSITION DIFFICULT

BUT FIGHT CONTINUES MR. ATTLEE’S SURVEY. REPORT FROM GENERAL AUCHINLICK. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) LONDON, June 23. In his statement in the House _of Commons today the Deputy Premier, Mr Attlee, read a message which had been sent shortly before the fall of Tobruk by General Auchinleck, com-maiider-in-chief in the Middle East, who said that at one time the enemy were exhausted, having' fought themselves to a standstill. Had the Eighth Army been able to take advantage of this it might have turned the scales, but as a result of its attacks it also, was equally exhausted, and this was impossible. Mr Attlee described the fall of. Tobruk as a “heavy and unexpected blow,” and said there was no information of the last fighting there and no indication of what number of troops had escaped capture. The House would deplore the loss of all these gallant troops and would join with him in expressing sympathy with South Africa in the loss she had sustained. “The position is difficult, but the fight for Libya still continues,” Mr Attlee went on. “We have still a strong force there, while already reinforcements have been arriving and others are on their way.”