DIRECT RESULT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 November 1942, Page 4

DIRECT RESULT

OF NAZI DEFEAT IN EGYPT HITLER’S MOVE INTO SOUTHERN FRANCE. ENFORCED MOVEMENT OF TROOPS. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.15 a.m.) RUGBY, November 11. It is pointed out in London that Hitler has been compelled to make a move into Vichy France as a direct consequence of his overwhelming defeat by the British Army in Egypt. It seems clear that the German troops for the occupation have been drawn from the garrisons in Northern and Western France. The enemy is in fact now forced to garrison those parts of his southern flank, namely the French and Italian coasts, which hitherto he has been able to neglect. The commander of the British Army units in-the North African operations is Lieutenant-General K. A. N. Anderson. He went to France with the British Expeditionary Force and took his brigade to the Saar in March, 1940. During the closing stages at Dunkirk he commanded the Eleventh Brigade and also the Third Division. On returning to England he took over a division from General Alexander, and in May, 1941, was given command of a corps. In April, 1942, he was given the Eastern Command. The commander of the R.A.F. in the same theatre is Air Marshal Sir- William Welsh, who, until the planning of the offensive began, was in command of the R.A.F. Flying Training Command.