LAND FIGHTING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 August 1942, Page 3

LAND FIGHTING

STILL ON MINOR SCALE IN EGYPT HEAVY RAID ON SHIPPING AT TOBRUK. AMERICAN TANKS PREPARING FOR ACTION. LONDON, July 31. Activities in Egypt are confined to harassing operations by British light patrols. Last night a combined force of R.A.F. and United States bombers made a heavy raid on Tobruk. A large load of bombs fell among ships and the quays. The attack was most successful. There is plenty of evidence that Tobruk is being used as the main forward base to bring in much-needed supplies. American tank crews are passing through the last stages of a regular training programme to accustom them to desert conditions. They will be ready soon to go into action alongside British troops. ENTIRE FRONT MINED ON BOTH SIDES. LOCK TO WHICH NO KEY HAS YET BEEN FOUND. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) LONDON, July 30. The “Daily Telegraph’s’’ correspondent with the Eighth Army says: “Both sides are laying down more elaborate minefields before their positions and are strengthening their defences in depth. The Germans have now mined their entire front over a distance of 30 miles to forestall any future frontal attack, and they are employing to a great extent mines which were lifted from our defences at Mersa Matruh. “The defensive combination of wellplanned minefields with an adequate supply of anti-tank guns to cover them have proved a lock to which no key has yet been found. Our undoubted air superiority in recent weeks has not enabled us to find the solution to this problem. It is possible that we are moving from the phase when the tank has been the decisive weapon into a phase when a combination of defensive weapons, notably anti-tank guns, will prove the dominating factor.” General Auchinleck’s recent counterattack along the whole front caused General Rommel to hurriedly replace the Italians with Germans, says the “Evening Standard’s” Cairo correspondent. The majority of the 6000 prisoners the British captured were Italians. New Zealanders in a brilliant attack captured almost every field gun belonging to the Pavia Division; 42 guns were captured or destroyed. STATIC WARFARE

NOVELTY FOR NEW ZEALAND TROOPS. WEAPON PITS BLASTED IN ROCK. (Official War Correspondent, N.Z.E.F.) WESTERN DESERT, July 29. Across the wadi you can see our wire, and 400 yards beyond the enemy’s wire runs parallel. On our side troops are digging in, blasting weapon pits in hard rock. On his side the enemy is doing the same. This means static warfare, the first time for New Zealanders in this war. Since our attack last week, when German armour prevented our consolidation, there has been little activity in this sector. Bright moonlight prevented effective fighting patrols, night activity being confined to reconnaissance patrols, who observe the enemy defence preparations close at hand. Four days ago we had only to cough to have the enemy plaster us with shell and machine-guns. Today we stood at the side of the wadi in full view of the enemy without response. “Can you see the enemy?” asked the battery commander. “Look,” and he spoke into a telephone. In a few seconds three grey spouts of smoke and dust shot up on a distant ridge where twenty-five pounders landed. “That’s where the enemy trenches are.” This quietness is broken for a few hours every morning and evening when the haze of cloud clears and permits accurate shelling with observation posts on both sides well into no-man’s-land. Even then the targets are not good—a few infantry and a few trucks—butt the enemy receives far more shells than we do. Meanwhile our infantry read, sleep and rest in bivouac tents and try to avoid the afternoon duststorms and millions of flies which infest the battlefield. At night our men patrol deep into no-man’s-land or try to sleep despite swarms of mosquitoes which have now appeared. FIGHTING SWEEPS OVER THE BATTLE AREA. ENEMY PLANE DESTROYED AT MALTA. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.5 a.m.) RUGBY, July 31. Today’s Cairo communique says: “On Wednesday night our night patrols harassed the enemy in all sectors, otherwise there is nothing to report from our land forces. “Air activity in the battle area has been confined principally to our fighter sweeps. “During limited air activity at Malta, our fighters destroyed one German aircraft.” “ENTIRELY BRITISH SHOW” RECENT SUCCESSFUL RAID ON TOBRUK. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.5 a.m.) RUGBY, July 31. “The raid on Tobruk on the night of July 29 was an entirely British show,” states a Cairo message. “An important aerial armada bombed the harbour for an hour and saw a large yellow fire in the west corner, followed by several explosions in the clock area. Another ship was attacked in the harbour of Bardia, which the Germans are now using, and it was probably blown up. “On their way back, the British airmen attacked shipping all along the coast and several barges were dam-

aged—some probably were sunk as well as enemy motoi’ transport on the Derna-Bardia route. ALEXANDRIA BOMBED SEVENTEEN CASUALTIES. INCLUDING FOUR PERSONS KILLED. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.5 a.m.) RUGBY, July 31. There were seventeen casualties, including four killed and also slight damage to property, when bombs were dropped on Alexandria last night, states a Cairo communique. EQUIPMENT FACTORS VIEWS OF AMERICAN EXPERT. PROSPECTS IN BATTLE AREA. (Received This Day, 10.30 a.m.) NEW YORK, July 31. Major-General Charles Scott, a former United States military observer in the Middle East, on his return to America, told reporters that the equipment now being produced in the United States will excel the hest weapons Field Marshal Rommel has used m Libya, although Rommel’s panzer divisions are excellently equipped. General Scott added that American tanks in Libya showed surprisingly few defects and that steps had alieady been taken to correct them. He refused to predict the outcome of the present deadlock in the Egyptian battle, but said: "If the British attack forcefully now and beat Rommel in his present position, they have the best chance they have ever had to make the result decisive.” ________