BLASTED BY R.A.F.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 January 1943, Page 4

BLASTED BY R.A.F.

ROADS CHOKED WITH AXIS TRANSPORT RETREATING WESTWARD OF TRIPOLI. METHODICAL DESTRUCTION. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 11.45 a.m.) RUGBY, January 21. R.A.F. planes are continuing their efforts against the enemy, not only between Homs and Tripoli, but further west, up to the Tunisian frontier, states a Cairo message. Yesterday they bombed concentrations of troops west of the town. In successful attacks as far as the frontier, the R.A.F. bombed and machine-gunned stationary and moving transport. Today the road to Tunisia, with its stranded and burning vehicles was very similar to all others from E| Alamein to Tripoli. A description of the recent enemy withdrawal has been given by pilots who have returned to their bases. On Tuesday night, they said, when the first intruders arrived, there was a solid line of traffic leaving Tripoli and travelling westward. In bright moonlight, the traffic made great targets. Bombers attacked the roads, scoring hits on dispersed vehicles. They left fires among military stores and in villages near the roadside. One of our bombers attacked a line of traffic a mile long. Flying along it, he strafed several vehicles at the rear of the column, setting them on fire and completely blocking the road. Then a light bomber came along and. bombed the other end of the line, hitting the road and blocking it. The column was jammed with other vehicles, piling up in a helpless jam that reached miles back towards Tripoli. One pilot said: “We started fires along five or six miles of traffic, moving in dispersed groups.” Other fighter aircraft, operating west of Zuara located more enemy transport choking the roads, and proceeded methodically to shoot it up. Many vehicles blew up and large fires started. So hurried was the enemy’s withdrawal that when night fell he decided to risk travelling with full lights, but these were soon put out. At the first approach of aircraft the enemy vehicles pulled swiftly off the road and dispersed men ran for cover, while their vehicles were being machine-gunned. Pilots maintained an increasing attack until their ammunition was exhausted. By midnight fifty miles of roadway between Tripoli and Zuara were reported to be a shambles of wrecked vehicles. The enemy had covered his withdrawal with well-prepared zones near the roadside, but this did not save him. Fighters weaved in and out, dodging ground fire, to press home their attacks. At the close of the evenjng there were few moving vehicles on the road, in contrast to the activity that characterised the roads around Tripoli earlier on, when streams of traffic were observed moving northwards towards the coastal road, in addition to unending convoys moving westward between Tripoli and Zuara. East of Tripoli fighter-bombers attacked German convoys in waves, scoring three hits on vehicles and starting two large fires and two smaller ones, while five explosions were heard ( near Castel Verdi. ROMMEL’S RETREAT TASK FACING THE ALLIES. ENEMY EFFORTS IN SOUTHERN TUNISIA. (Received This Pay, 11.0 a.m.) .LONDON, January 21. “It is certain,” a correspondent at Allied Headquarters in North Africa states, “that General Montgomery will follow Rommel over the Tunisian frontier, but after the delay of the last few months it is improbable that the Eighth Army will be able to assault the enemy’s positions without spending a considerable time in resting, regrouping and consolidating. We must realise firstly that the enemy, within a.month, has become numerically as strong as, or stronger than, the Allies, With more experienced commanders; secondly, that they receive sufficient supplies to fight a prolonged defensive action; thirdly, that the Allies in Tunisia • cannot afford immediately to launch a full-scale attack against a junction of the two German armies.” The Columbia Broadcasting System’s Algiers correspondent says today’s communique indicates that the Germans have continued to advance in Tunisia..

German panzers are making a twin thrust down parallel valleys in the direction of Ousseltia, reports an Associated Press Algiers correspondent. This is interpreted as an effort to isolate and then occupy the range between the two valleys, which would ensure protection for the coastal route eastwards, along which Rommel might move in his withdrawal from Tripolitania to join the Axis force in Tunisia.