EIGHTH ARMY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 August 1942, Page 3

EIGHTH ARMY

LOSSES AMPLY MADE UP MORE THAN MERE DEFENCE OF EGYPT. NOW IN CONTEMPLATION. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, August 22. The Eighth Army’s losses since June have now been amply made up, says the Cairo correspondent of “The Times,” and it is again possible to contemplate more than the mere defence of Egypt. In considering the striking power of the Eighth and also the Tenth Army guarding the Persian and Iraqi oilfields, it must be remembered that assistance from the United States is daily coming more and more into the picture. ITALIAN BOMBER DESTROYED OVER CYPRUS. WORK OF FLEET AIR ARM IN MEDITERRANEAN. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, August 22. A report from Nicosia (Sicily) states that an Empire fighter pilot destroyed an Italian bomber which crashed in flames near a coastal village. It was the first Axis plane shot clown over Cyprus. A Malta message says that R.A.F. fighters yesterday destroyed five enemy aircraft over the island. The battle of the Malta convoy was the biggest defensive operation the Fleet Air Arm has ever accomplished, said a senior naval officer of the aircraft division in London. Because the Italian fleet never molested the convoy, a striking force was not required, and torpedo-bombers never had a chance, the air battle largely being confined to fighters —Martlets and Hurricanes. Our fighters definitely accounted for 39 enemy aircraft, and probably destroyed five and possibly nine others, our losses being only eight. AIR COOPERATION

WITH NEW ZEALAND ARTILLERY. ATTACKS ON OPPOSING BATTERIES. (Official War Correspondent, N.Z.E.F.) WESTERN DESERT, August 20. Air co-operation in the silencing of opposing batteries, a new experience for the New Zealand artillery, has been used with success during the present phase of the desert campaign. It is a phase of comparatively stationary warfare, when the guns on both sides are dug in and carefully concealed. _ When an enemy battery is located it is difficult from the ground to observe the results of counter-fire, but with an aeroplane to act as spotter the greatest accuracy is possible. Smoke shells give the plane an indication of the enemy battery’s position and the range of our guns. The spotter plane has a strong fighter escort during the operation which, when all the guns available in that position are brought to bear, usually takes about 15 minutes. LULL ON LAND IN EGYPTIAN THEATRE. AIR ATTACKS ON ENEMY TRANSPORT. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 9.55 a.m.) RUGBY, August 23. General headquarters in Cairo report: “Apart from patrol activity there is nothing to report from pur land forces. There was a slight increase in air activity. Our fighterbombers successfully attacked groups of enemy vehicles in the southern and central sectors.”