MANY AIR ATTACKS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 August 1942, Page 3

MANY AIR ATTACKS

ON INVADING AXIS FORCES IN EGYPT HALIFAX BOMBERS IN ACTION. LAND OPERATIONS RESTRICTED. LONDON, August 3. In Egypt today’s news is again of offensive aircraft patrols over the whole of the battle area. Land operations are still confined to patrolling and artillery duels. Fighter-bombers made a successful attack on an enemy reconnaissance unit, Some 20 Axis vehicles were either destroyed or damaged. A petrol, dump was set on fire. British four-engined Halifax bomb-’ erg are taking part in night attacks on targets behind the enemy’s lines. Tobruk, Solium, Mersa Matruh, Sidi Barrani and Bardia were all raided last night. A small force of enemy aircraft was over the Alexandria area last night. One bomber was shot down into the sea by night fighters. The lull on the El Alamein front throughout the week has not been broken except for the usual patrols and barrages and also ceaseless air force activity overhead. All reports from Egypt emphasise the mosquito and fly scourges and also the heat. Correspondents maintain that the lull is still an “uneasy” one with neither General Auchinleck nor Field Marshal Rommel “sleeping.” A message from Alexandria states that United States medium and heavy bombers on Friday night attacked Tobruk. where direct hits were made on a ship and dock installations. Antiaircraft guns were plastered. ‘ GOOD NIGHT’S WORK DESTRUCTION OF TANKS BY NEW ZEALANDERS. (Official War Correspondent, N.Z.E.F.) CAIRO, August 2. Two Mark 111 German tanks were destroyed and 16 prisoners, including a captain and a lieutenant, were captured by a New Zealand staff sergeant and three others during a night attack on Ruweisat Ridge. While the New Zealanders advanced the staff sergeant and three others got separated from their battalion. They heard the rumble of enemy tanks nearby. The first tank encountered suddenly loomed from the darkness silhouetted against a distant burning truck. The New Zealanders carefully stalked its position, closed in quickly, made 4 the crew prisoners and captured others in a nearby truck. They put the tank out of action with grenades. Later in the advance, the New Zealanders bagged a second tank which was trying to round them up. The tank crew made the mistake of moving into the glare of burning trucks. One of the crew stuck his head out of the turret. There was a single rifle shot and the tank commander swayed and dropped. The New Zealanders ran up and slung a few grenades through the turret, completing a good night’s work. It was rioted by the New Zealanders that German tank crews sometimes panicked, shooting their own troops. In one case, the driver of a German truck was shot and the vehicle careered toward a German tank which slewed round, firing into the truck and killing many of those inside. BOMBING & SHELLING CAIRO OFFICIAL REPORT. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 9.30 a.m.) RUGBY, August 3. Cairo headquarters state: “On Saturday night our patrols were active in all sectors. Yesterday our artillery shelled enemy positions in the southern sector. “Fighter-bombers successfully attacked an enemy reconnaissance unit near the Quattara Depression, while in the southern sector enemy headquarters were also raided. “Groups of enemy transport in the central sector were bombed, while fighters maintained offensive patrols over the battlefront'.” i ONE LUCKY GERMAN OUT OF PARTY OF THIRTEEN. SURPRISE ATTACK BY NEW ZEALANDERS. Official War Correspondent, N.Z.E.F.) WESTERN DESERT, August 2. Lucky was the thirteenth man in a German working party of the 115th lorried infantry regiment opposite the New Zealanders’ lines on the night of July 31. A patrol of 17 South Islanders set out at 9 p.m. Ninety minutes later, near an enemy strongpoint they heard a mouth organ being played. Quietly surrounding the Germans, the patrol twice offered the enemy a chance to surrender, but the offers were refused. Eleven Germans were killed by the New Zealanders and the remaining two were' captured. One who tried to escape was shot and the other was brought back. The New Zealanders only casualties were three wounded and all are safe. That has been the only close contact with the enemy for more than a week ,■ now. Patrols last night did not meet the enemy. Spasmodic shelling continues morning and night. As one New Zealand staff officer put it, “the only activity is the shuffling in the stalls after the end of the second round. The first round ended in a win for the British. In the second round the British started well, but the round ended with even honours.” Digging in continues steadily. A morning tour of the front revealed blasting compressors and bulldozers working within a few hundred yards of the enemy’s wire and for several miles back.