SEEN BY ARMY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 July 1942, Page 3

SEEN BY ARMY

RESULTS OF R.A.F. ATTACKS IN FORWARD BATTLE AREA. ■ MUCH DAMAGE TO ENEMY TRANSPORT. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 11 a.m.) RUGBY, July 5. The British Army in the Western Desert is now seeing for itself the successful results of Allied air attacks, says the Air Ministry news service. Much of the ground occupied by the enemy is now a mass of bomb craters. In many of them lie fighting vehicles, or enemy supply transport, knocked out or burned to a shell. Day bombers and fighter-bombers carried out a great deal of this bombing yesterday, in full view of the ground troops. In one case, for instance, targets among the enemy positions lay only 400 yards in front of our men. Forced by considerable antiaircraft fire to bomb from a moderate height, our pilots and bomb-aimers had to use the greatest care and skill in order not to hit their own side. It was noted yesterday that the enemy was using Italian aircraft on an increasing scale.

The tremendous scale of bombing and fighting by the Allied air forces is further shown by the R.A.F. Middle East news service, which says: “In addition to bombing enemy positions, fighter squadrons concentrated yesterday on the ground strafing of supply columns, well to the rear of the battle zone, between Sidi Barrani and Gambut. Approximately fifty lorries were destroyed 4 or damaged. Most of them were troob-carriers. Towards evening, a large concentration of enemy vehicles, to the west of the battle- area, was attacked.

The enemy put up raids on a comparatively small scale over the Suez Canal and Alexandria last night. They paid for it heavily, for night-fighters shot down five enemy bombers, three of them over the Canal zone and two in the Alexandria area. ■ “In the Mediterranean, British bombers and torpedo-carrying aircraft attacked an enemy supply convoy off Sapienza Island. One ship was hit by a torpedo and left enveloped in a red glow and smoke.” Air Chief Marshel Tedder, replying to and thanking Mr Churchill for his message to the R.A.F. in the Middle East, says: “We are all resolved to strive to our utmost and more to assist the Army to clear Africa of the enemy.”

AIANY ARRESTS SECURITY TIGHTENED UP IN EGYPT. LONDON, July 4. The Cairo correspondent of the British United Press says that the detention of 2,000 Egyptians has been ordered in a drive to tighten up public security. ONE FATALITY IN RAID ON ALEXANDRIA. SLIGHT DAMAGE TO PROPERTY. (British Official Wireless.) (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 9.35 a.m.) RUGBY, July 5. An Egyptian Ministry of the Interior communique states: “In the course of an air raid in the Alexandria area last night, a few bombs were dropped, causing six casualties, one of which was fatal. Slight damage was done to property. “ALL RUBBISH” SUGGESTED USE OF DRUGS BY TROOPS. STATEMENT BY SYDNEY PROFESSOR. (Special P.A. Correspondent.) (Received This Day, 9.45 a.m.) SYDNEY, This Day. “Pep talks would do more for the troops than pep drugs,” says Professor Harvey Sutton, Director of the Sydney University School of Tropical Medicine. He was commenting on suggestions by Cairo newspaper correspondents that the British troops failed because they had too much salt m their food and were not given benzedrine tablets before battle/ as are the Germ “Such talk is all rubbish,” said Professor Suttorl. “There is very great need for salt in the tropics. Troops often suffer for lack of it, but as fo pep drugs, pep talks would do more good. Scientific tests have proved that drugged athletes do not perform any better, but merely feel better. At the last Olympic Games, Japanese, German and American athletes all tried drugs. Japanese swimmers breathed in oxygen before races. It did not affect them physically, but made them moie confident.”