FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1942
1942 - 1331.PDF
JUNE 25TH, I942 FLIGHT 633 ENEMY AIR Over G.B June 1-4 „ 15 „ 16 „ 17 ,. 18 ., 19 „ 20 Totals : 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 3 LOSSES TO JUNE 20th. Over Continent North, 5,998 0 0 1 0 0 4 4 9 Middle Eas Middle East 6 18 5 4 2 0 0 35 c, over 4,013. use of them to the fleets of the United ions in the future. Japan's only (if it can be called a hope) of curing her conquests must be to occupy all the bases from which the United Nations' fleets can start a counter-offensive, and the Australian ports are now the most important of such bases. In any case, the bombing raids on Darwin have not done much harm. Fall of Tobruk HTHERE is no denying that the Em- •*• pire forces have met with a nasty reverse in Libya. The evacuation of Bir Hakeim looked ominous, and so did the breach in our minefields made by the Axis. Then the main body of our armour (which is the modern term for tanks) ran into a sort of ambus cade one evening, and suffered heavy losses. That crippled our power, and we forthwith set about withdrawing our main forces to the frontier of Egypt. The divisions at Gazala were extricated by a bold and skilful move, but Tobruk remained a large note of interrogation. Some of the best-in formed correspondents on the spot and in Cairo discussed the pros and cons of either preparing the place for another siege or evacuating the garri son. Rommel did not give us time to make up our minds. He first sent out a reconnoitring force to test our line on the Egyptian frontier, but with clear orders not to engage in a heavy Fit. Lt. A. K. Gatward, the pilot of a Coastal Command Beaufort who skimmed the Paris roof-tops to drop a Tri-colour on the Arc de Triomphe. battle. This force accordingly with draw when we snapped at it. Then he threw the full weight of his forces against Tobruk, and overwhelmed the defences, such as they were, by sheer weight of metal. The gar- gison surrendered —according to Axis accounts— on the morning of Sunday last, June 21st. The Germans and Italians claim to have taken 25,000 prisoners, including several Generals, and a great quan tity of equip- our armed strength at a time when man-power is somewhat of a problem tq us. Th<- loss of the material, in cluding, we must suppose, the sup plies on the ships recently escorted into the harbour with so much gallantry by the Navy, is also a matter for deep regret.- There seems some doubt as to whether we retained the air superior ity which we held when these opera tions began. Some reports say that German dive-bombers played a major part in rendering Bir Hakeim unten able, and also in the assault on Tobruk. At times our fighters got at the bombers over Bir Hakeim and made them pay for their audacity, but there seem to have been intervals when the Stukas and Ju 88s could work their wicked will. When Tobruk was assailed, the Empire squadrons were engaged in withdrawing to air fields farther back, after having fought up to the very last possible moment. The ground crews must have had an appallingly hard time, and no' praise is too high for them. There can be no doubt that the Caught in the Bay of Biscay, this U-boat was forced to sur face by the bombs of a Sunderland which then attacked with its guns, whose raking fire is seen straddling the submarine. R.A.F. was not able to fulfil the role marked out for it of preventing sup plies from reaching Rommel's fight ing front. The destruction of vehicles by our aircraft was enormous, but it is clear that enough got through for Rommel's purpose. From the first it had been recognised that in the desert aircraft bombs were not the right weapon for attacking tanks, and though there have been allusions in recent communiques to air attacks on German armour, evidently only the lighter enemy tanks proved vulner able to the fire of our aircraft cannon or to the bombs of the Kittyhawks. Lt. Gen. C. Willoughby Norrie, D.S.O., M.C., Commander of the 30th Corps, wim his A.D.C., Lt. Grant Singer, inspect ing the self-sealing fuel tank of crashed Italian aircraft near Sidi Rezegh ment. The loss of the place is not only a blow to our prestige, but it places all the North African ports west of Egypt m the hands of the Axis, and Tobruk is much the best of these ports in Cyrenaica. The loss of the troops (quite apart from the anxiety which everybody will feel for the fate of individ ual officers and soldiers) is a most unwelcome diminution of BRITISH AIR LOSSES TO JUNE 20th. Over G.B. A'crft. June 14 0 „ 15 0 „ 16 0 ,. 17 0 „ 18 0 „ 19 0 „ 20 0 0 — Totals : North, Over Continent B'brs. F'trs. 0 0 0 0 8 > 0 1 0 0 9 3 7 6 24 II — — 3,989; Middle East, Middle East A'crft. 4 17 8 4 0 6 0 39 (14 pilots safe) about 1,289.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
