POUNDED IN RETREAT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 December 1942, Page 3

POUNDED IN RETREAT

ROMMEL’S FORCES IN LIBYA British Light and Medium Bombers in Action INCREASINGLY SUCCESSFUL AIR ATTACKS ON AXIS BASES IN TUNISIA I ' I ■■ —— CONVOYS REACH MALTA AND BENGHAZI UNOPPOSED LONDON, December 16. Rommel’s forces are still in full retreat in Libya and Allied aircraft are keeping’ up their attacks on the enemy columns on the roads leading to Tripoli. In’ Tunisia enemy bases are _ J>6ing relentlessly pounded from the air. / The Axis forces in Libya have made no attempt to halt their retreat since they were forced out of El Agheila. There is still no sign as to how far they are going before they make a stand. On Monday night they were reported to have reached ' >a point 100 miles west of El Agheila. Allied air attacks on the Axis troops, guns and transport streaming along the Tripoli Road, have not let up since the first squadron of fighter-bombers took off at dawn last Sunday. One very significant piece of news about yesterday’s attacks on the retreating enemy columns is that for the first time light and medium bombers went into action. These bombers are used only for targets sufficiently large and slow-moving to be fairly easy to hit and their use suggests that the attacks by Spitfires and fighter-bombers during the previous two days had succeeded at some points in causing traffic jams. This is exactly what correspondents say has happened. Forward troops continue to harass the enemy, though they are still greatly impeded by minefields. Yesterday they were still west of El Agheila, about 30 miles away from their starting point. In Tunisia land fighting continues on a small scale, but enemy bases at Tunis, La Goulette and Bizerta have been continually attacked from the air with increasing success. Over the Mediterranean, between Tunis and Sicily, Allied planes shot down four more southward-bound enemy transport planes without loss to themselves. z

BRITISH CONVOYS HAVE RECENTLY STEAMED THROUGH THE MEDITERRANEAN TO ( MALTA AND BENGHAZI WITHOUT INCIDENT. THIS SHOWS THAT THE- ENEMY IS FAR TOO BUSILY OCCUPIED WITH THE CONFLICT IN NORTH AFRICA TO SPARE EITHER SHIPS OR AIRCRAFT TO CHALLENGE THE PASSAGE OF BRITISH CONVOYS.