NOT GOOD ENOUGH

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 June 1942, Page 4

NOT GOOD ENOUGH

AMERICAN WAR SUPPLIES SENT TO LIBYA ACCORDING TO NEW YORK NEWSPAPER. CRITICISM OF BRITISH GENERALSHIP. (Bv Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, June 24. “The United States contributed to the defeat in Libya by supplying the British troops with tanks and planes which were inferior to the Nazi weapons,” says the New York newspaper, “P.M.” “To the overworked phrase ‘too little and too late’ must now be added ‘not good enough,'” the paper adds. “In addition to the inferiority in equipment, both British-made and American-made, the Allies were outnumbered by at least 75,000 troops, including the Italians.” American military experts attribute in a large measure the German success to the new 88mm. all-purpose field gun. Its shell weighs about the same as the British 25-pcuncler. which was pitted against it, but the Nazi weapon outranges the British by at least one mile and a half, is self-propelled and can be used point-blank against tanks, for long-range shelling or as an anti-air-craft piece. The number of shattered and disabled British tanks littering the battlefield was a dreadful testimony to the greater range and fire-power of Rommel’s army. The “New York Times.” in a leading article on the lessons of Libya, says that courage and equipment arc insufficient for victory. “What is needed also is superior strategy and tactics; in other words, superior generalship, it says. “The Nazis won in Libya because they were led by a general who made the most of his men and equipment, and the British apparently were defeated because their generals did not know how to do this. The Germans also had superior equipment.

“In a score of fields our organisation must be revised to stimulate, mobilise and pool our technical skill and inventive talent on special problems. It is equally important that the Army, Navy and Air Force should adopt quickly the new weapons which our technical genius makes available.”

“The Times,” London, in an editorial, says that the call for a searching inquiry into the conduct of the war is raised with new force because of the new grounds for it. Such demands were made after Malaya and Singapore, but it was then recognised that great risks were taken there before the Japanese attack in order to meet more urgent dangers elsewhere. It was assumed that guns and tanks of the latest pattern had poured into Alexandria, so that at least the Libyan front had been made impregnable, but our weapons in Libya were still obsolescent. This was the most insistent question disturbing the public. “How comes it that after'three years of war our armament still lags in quantity and design—especially design?” asks “The Times.” “The balance of air power, at least as set out in the official statements, is said to be on our side, yet the Benghazi and Tripoli bases have not suffered sustained attack. The enemy’s ever-lengthening communications do not seem to be seriously threatened. The ‘adequate’ Tobruk garrison was overwhelmed in 24 hours. “Members of Parliament are pressing for a ruthles investigation impelled by the sense that the fate of Egypt may depend on the answers. The need is to fix the responsibility quickly, for time presses.”

ITALIAN CLAIM OCCUPATION OF FRONTIER POSITIONS. (Received This Day, 1.0 p.m.) LONDON, June 25. A Rome communique claims the occupation of Solium, Sidi Barrani and Halfaya. TIME=BOMBS USED AGAINST FRENCHFASCISTS. NANTES OFFICE DEMOLISHED. (Received This Day, 1.0 p.m.) LONDON, June 25. The Berlin radio, requoting a message from Paris, said a time-bomb.de-molished the Nantes office of Doriot’s Popular Party. Similar explosions have occurred at the party offices in Cannes and Niort during the past few days. HEAVIEST TO DATE ANGLO-AMERICAN RAID ON BENGHAZI. WELLINGTONS & LIBERATORS AT WORK ALL DAY. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 11.0 a.m.) RUGBY, June 25. Benghazi yesterday had probably its heaviest raid, according to a Cairo agency message, when several scores of Wellingtons and Liberators throughout the day bombed this important Axis supply port.