AIR SUPPORT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 July 1942, Page 3

AIR SUPPORT

OVERWHELMING BRITISH SUPERIORITY MORE BATTLE DETAILS. EIGHTH ARMY GROWING STRONGER. LONDON, July 16. “Our air support is overwhelmingly superior to the enemy’s throughout the desert campaigns,” says the correspondent of “The Times” in the Western Desert, “but only now is this having a decisive effect. Our ceaseless air attacks, their accuracy and the ferocity with which they are carried out are beginning to break down the morale of the enemy.” Field-Marshal Rommel on Tuesday night made his third big effort- to flatten the salient at Tel el Isa, says Reuter’s correspondent from the El Alamein area. The enemy thrust came after a two-hour barrage and after the R.A.F. had battered the Axis gun positions and transport. The Germans had stiffened the Italian infantry. The Cairo correspondent of the “Daily Mail” says Rommel, after unsuccessfully assaulting the South African position immediately to the south of El Alamein, suddenly turned north against the Australian positions at Tel el Isa. As the German tanks came on, the Australians greeted and mostly dispersed them with a tremendous and concentrated artillery fire. The enemy then pushed in lorries and infantry, some of whom succeeded in getting inside the perimeter, but were quickly thrown out after being cut up by machine-gun fire. Simultaneously with Rommel’s attack, Imperial troops initiated a new limited offensive in the central sector of the El Alamein front. Fighting continued during yesterday. The correspondent of “The Times” in the Western Desert says that the enemy is still giving his attention to our northern positions. Our troops handled the recent daylight attacks so severely that the enemy made a night attack, first sending in tanks to breach the defences and following up with lorries and infantry. He took some small isolated positions, from which we threw him out at dawn, inflicting heavy losses. , Any disappointment that we have not been quick to follow up the advantage gained when wo repelled the enemy’s advance into Egypt and placed him on the defensive may be mitigated by consideration of the fact that our forces are not only daily ' growing stronger, but are rested and refreshed after many weeks of gruelling fighting. Meanwhile, the enemy is constantly harried by R.A.F. raids. Fresh German infantrymen, believed to have been flown in from Greece and Crete, are likely to be in better condition than the enemy troops fighting throughout the campaign. The newcomers are believed to be a relatively small part of the Axis forces in this area. Our preliminary work for the expected battle has been done well by the R.A.F. and fresh troops. I