CRITICAL STAGE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 July 1942, Page 3

CRITICAL STAGE

IN WIDERANGING BATTLE MUCH EXPECTED FROM STAND BY NEW ZEALANDERS. ENEMY OUTCLASSED IN AIR. LONDON, July 1. Today’s , communique from Cairo states that in an armoured battle yesterday a number of enemy tanks were knocked out. The enemy approached certain of our positions during the day, but fighting on a large scale did not result. The Allied air forces were again active over the battle area yesterday, and bombers attacked the enemy at Fuka last night. It was reported yesterday from Cairo that a strong enemy column had passed El Daba, 70 miles beyond Mersa Matruh and was feeling its way toward Alexandria, 90 miles away. The latest agency messages indicate that the advance enemy units are continuing this eastward drive. Fighting is going on not only east of El Duda but also well to the west and south. “The battle is raging over some hundreds of square miles east of Mersa Matruh, with the Eighth Army fighting desperately to stem the enemy's advance into Egypt,” says the Cairo correspondent of “The Times.” The reports are still scanty, and even contradictory, but it is evident that the battle has reached a critical stage. The New Zealanders are putting up a magnificent stand, from which much is expected. “Our air effort is increasing every day. The enemy is still utterly outclassed, and there is amazingly little interference with our ground foi'ces. “It now transpires that there was not any real intention of holding Mersa Matruh, and the present battleground is the area in which it was generally expected that the big encounter would develop. The Eighth Army has been fighting a dogged, delaying rearguard action, allowing the enemy to pass forward slowly till he was in a position where our commanders thought we could best hit him a hard knock.”

BOTTLENECK POSITION. The Cairo correspondent of the “Daily Mail” says: “We are fighting for time in which to complete our defensive preparation in the Alamein area across the 35-mile bottleneck between the sea and the Quattara Depression. General Auchinleck hopes to jam the Eighth Army tightly in this bottleneck and force Rommel to a halt. “The battle of attrition continues between the rival armoured forces, with anti-tank guns doing most of the work. For miles burning trucks and tanks send up pillars of smoke.” The Cairo correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain yesterday said that the nev/ly-arrived New Zealand troops, with some tanks, beat off an attack from the 15th Panzer Division round Fuka. Some Axis armoured units which were caught outside their tanks during the night were rushed and wiped out with bayonets and hand-grenades. “The New Zealanders’ assaults have terrorised the enemy,” the correspondent adds. Fuka was an important British bomber base. Thousands of American troops with enormous quantities of equipment have reached Egypt, says the “Daily Telegraph’s” Cairo correspondent. American radio reports say they have already reinforced General Auchinleck’s forces. Also fresh Free French units, including men of the Foreign Legion, motorised Spahis and Senegalese riflemen have been sent to the front.

SITUATION LOOKS BETTER. “The situation for Egypt is not hopeless,” said an American military observer who had returned to Cairo from the battlefront. “It looks better now than it did in the last few days. The R.A.F. has kept its control- of the air, and this has had a tremendous effect the morale of the troops, who are keen for battle.” The Cairo correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain says: “The outcome of the battle depends largely on our success in stopping enemy supplies, specially of petrol. Another major factor is the speed with which disabled tanks can be sent back to the battle. A hundred slightly damaged tanks are being repaired throughout the day and night.” General Auchinleck, when he appeared at a forward landing ground in his. own plane looked calm, says the “Daily Telegraph’s” correspondent with the Eighth Army. It is reported in a Cairo message that special units of experienced South African troops are at present standing ready to participate in the battle when they are called on. Hitherto the South Africans, apart from the air force, have not been involved in this battle, but they are grimly determined to avenge Tobruk. A special correspondent of the “Daily Express” at a Middle East port reports that a steady stream of reinforcements in men, tanks and planes is reaching the Eighth Army through this

and other ports in the Middle East. The troops are going to the front after only brief halts for transhipment from the steamers to trains, and the tanks and transport are following close behind. A communique issued in Rome yesterday said: “Axis motorised armoured forces repulsed further attacks by enemy armoured forces and crossed into the Fuka area. Our air force on June 29 attacked the retreating enemy.”