Pacific News-Review

Notes And Comment On

The Progress Of The War

From June 15 To July 13

June 15: Twenty-seven heavy Japan ese bombers, escorted by more than 12 Zero fighters, raided- Darwin at noon on Saturday for the first time since April 27 They flew at an enormous height and did little damage.

June 16: Japanese raids on Darwin with more than 20 bombers were repeated on Darwin on Sunday, June 14, and Monday, June 15. , , June 16: British forces have been withdrawn from Tobruk, and Tobruk is now being beseiged by Axis columns Although official communiques still are obscure it is plain that the British have suffered a major defeat in the desert south-westward of Tobruk.

Later reports make it clear that the British tank columns were cleverly ambushed by Rommel in this area and three-quarters of the British tank fOTce of some 300 tanks was wiped out. The position in Libya is now very serious.

June 16 - Germans are still hammering at the Russian Black Sea port of Sebas topol. . ...

June 17: Very severe naval fighting took place in the Mediterranean in con nection with an attempt by the British to send large convoys of men and material to Malta and Tobruk. Large enemy forces attacked our convoys and although a large proportion of our ships got through, it is evident that our losses have been heavy. Enemy losses include.

One 10,000 ton Italian cruiser sunk, and two battleships and a number of cruisers and destroyers damaged. No details of British naval losses have been released.

June 18: The British Eighth Army is retiring from Libya towards the Egyptian frontier, and the Axis columns have now invested Tobruk. . A . , It is apparent that the British Eighth Army has been crippled owing to the loss of its tank forces in the ambush. The British are now retiring to the Mersa Matruh area where it is believed heavy fortifications exist.

June 19: Important decisions probably will be taken by President Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill, who surprised the world by arriving unexpectedly in Washington yesterday.

The newspapers are guessing that the main subjects of the discussions between the democratic leaders will be the open ing of a second front in Europe, the new Anglo-Russian treaty, the shipping situa tion, Allied strategy in the Mediterra nean and the Middle East, and Ameri can supplies to Britain, Russia and China.

June 21: The first news which greeted Mr. Churchill on his arrival in President Roosevelt’s study was the announcement that Tobruk had surrendered to the Germans after only 24 hours’ resistance.

The enemy has captured in Tobruk about 25,000 men, and enormous quantities of war material.

June 21: For the second night in suc cession very heavy formations of British bombers attacked the naval base and industrial centre of Emden.

June 22: To-day, the anniversary of Germany’s attack upon Russia, the Ger mans are attacking Sebastopol in over whelming strength and the position of the fortress it critical.

June 24: The British Government has made a statement that any further advance by the enemy into Egypt will be stoutly resisted and that very import ant reinforcements are on their way to the Eighth Army, , . , June 24; The wave of optimism which has swept over USA in recent weeks,

and which took shape in a forecast that the war might end this year, has now, as a result of Libya and what is hap pening in Russia, given way to black pessimism. “Tobruk fell like a thunder bolt into this mood of hope,” says one commentator.

June 25: Rommel’s panzer forces have made a wide southerly sweep and have advanced more than 70 miles into Egypt, forcing the British to withdraw from Solium and Sidi Omar.

June 25: Reports from many sources suggest that Japan may be now plan ning an attack upon Siberia, so as to assist Germany in crushing Russia, and so as to remove the last land bases from which Japan’s industrial cities could be bombed.

June 26: More than 1,000 British bombers raided Germany last night. The main objective was Bremen, where enormous destruction was done. Fifty two British aircraft are missing.

This is the third RAF 1,000-bomber raid on Germany. The first was on Cologne, the second on Essen.

June 26: Rommel is now engaged in a full-scale attack upon the British forces at Mersa Matruh. Rommel is sacrificing everything to speed and is racing his three panzer columns across the desert.

They are believed to comprise 600 tanks, 10,000 supporting vehicles and several hundreds of mobile guns.

June 28: Mr. Churchill has returned to London from his conferences with Pre sident Roosevelt. A joint statement issued by the President and Prime Minister declares that the United Nations are in good heart and in complete agreement.

It adds that while the plans evolved can not be disclosed “it can be said that the coming operations will divert German strength from the attack on Russia”.

It may be noted that, at the moment of this statement, the British Eighth Armv actually was retiring from the Mersa Matruh line under Rommel’s ham mer blows, and the Germans were mass ing in unprecedented strength for the commencement of their 1942 drive against Russia. It will be interesting to see whether this assurance, made m such circumstances, is merely another example of the soothing-syrup consis tently fed to the Allied people; or whe ther it is justified by events of the coming weeks.

June 29: Communiques issued in Ber lin and Rome claim that the Axis forces this morning occupied Mersa Matruh, but “nothing is known in London officially about this claim”.

General Auchinleck (who took com mand of the Eighth Army after General Ritchie’s defeat near Tobruk) is avmdmg a major battle for the present, while he chooses his own battle-ground, and also gives the very large reinforcements which are on the way an opportunity of reach ing him and taking their place in the line. , , All the reports from the confused battle-front agree on one thing—namely, that the British air-forces are maintain ing supremacy over the battlefield and are inflicting enormous losses upon Rom mel’s greatly attenuated and extended supply lines. Some of them point out that so long as the British hold air supremacy, the battle for Egypt is not lost.

June 29: The Germans have launched a new offensive in the region of Kursk which is over 100 miles north of Khar kov.

July 1: Advancing Axis forces are now

only 90 miles west of Alexandria. Reports from enemy sources say that the British fleet has left Alexandria, and gone southwards through the Suez Canal.

Heavy reinforcements of Americans and American equipment, and Dominion troops, have reached the Eighth Army and the British will stand upon a nar row front between the sea at El Alamein and the Qattara Depression, which is a vast swamp, 35 miles inland from the coast and over which armoured columns may not pass. New Zealand forces, which joined the British, already have distinguished themselves, a magnificent bayonet charge by the Maori battalion being especially noteworthy.

July 2: Creeping on the Japanese gar rison at Salamaua, New Guinea, on Sun day night, Allied land troops killed or wounded at least 60 Japanese, and cap tured some equipment. Their only casu alties were two men wounded.

July 2; A great battle is now proceed ing in the 35 miles bottle-neck between El Alamein and the Qattara Depression.

July 2: The Russian fortress of Sebas topol fell at noon yesterday.

July 3: The British, strongly reinforced, are holding their line in the El Ala mein bottle-neck, and all their positions are intact. Most correspondents say that if only the British can hold this line for a few days there will be a reasonable chance of saving Egypt.

July 5: Correspondents report that the greatest battle since Hitler went to war against Russia, is now raging along the 150-miles front between Kursk and Khar kov. The Germans, squandering unpre cedented quantities of men and muni tions, are trying to break through to the Don River, July 7; The Eighth Army, with its strong reinforcements, is continuing to hold Rommel’s panzer divisions on the El Alamein front, while the RAF retains unquestioned superiority over the West ern Desert.

July 7; Fighting is reported from almost all parts of the Russian front.

The critical sector is the triangle formed by Kursk, Kharkov and Voronej. If the enemy crosses the Don he will cut com munications between Moscow and the Ukraine. The position is grave.

July 8: There is little reported from the other fighting fronts. The Japanese are making attacks upon the Chinese in China, and Chinese armies are hit ting back strongly; and there is much skirmishing between American air anc light naval forces and the Japanese, who secured some small bases in the western part of the Aleutian Islands (Northern Pacific).

July 9: The Germans made important strategical gains by breaking through the Russian front and reaching the River Don 120 miles east of Kursk.

July 13: The Germans have crossed the River Don in considerable strength. The position is now extremely dangerous because the enemy threatens the safety of Moscow to the north and all the east ern Ukraine, to the south. Before him are the wide Steppes of the Don area, which provide ideal going for tanks Unless the Russians can rally and coun ter-attack, in great strength, the Ger mans may get around the Black Sea intc the Caucasus area, and may even invade the country north of the Caspian Sea.

July 13: The British are holding their new desert line and have ceaselessly har assed the enemy with local raids and great air activity.