Evening star., 1941-11-27
British Victory Seen in Libyo
Eliot Believes Any Other Outcome Would
Be Miracle Despite Superior koz Tanks

think the Axis has any great
strength outside Of the main theater
Of operations, otherwise such a risk
would hardly be justifiable.
These seem to be the main ele-
ments of the battle situation in
Libya as far as they can be de-
duced from available information.
The sole German advantage so far
appears to be the fact, previously
known, that they possess a certain
number of tanks which are larger
and better armed than anything the
British have. The Germans are
we'll commanded and are fighting
with the desperate courage to be ex-
pected of good soldiers in their posi-
ton. The battle is not over; hard
fighting and good leadership have
won before against seemingly over
whelming odds and may do so
again; one can only say that every
indication still points to a British
success and that any other outcome
will be in the nature of a military
miracle.
There is one further point to be
considered and that is the possibil-
ity Of strong German air reinforce
ments from Europe arriving on the
scene. 1t has been reported the
Germans are scraping together all
OF the aircraft they have available
in Italy, Greece and Crete for the
purpose Of reinforcing Libya. This,
too, was to be anticipated. It should.
however, be pointed out that the
effect OF such reinforcements could
be only temporary. Modern air
forces require an enormous ground
organization for their maintenance
and supply. They cannot operate
or protect their own line of COM
munications, except to the very lin
tied extent to which cargo-carrying
planes can be used.
Tobruk in Vital Role.
It is not sufficient to fly the
planes Of an air unit to a new thea
ter of operations. Supplies OF fuel
lubricants. bombs and spare parts.
and all the repair and maintenance
facilities necessary to keep the
planes in action under battle con-
ditions must also be brought along
For operations Of any extent, this
can be accomplished only by other
forms OF transport-that is, by ships
or on wheels. German air reinforce
ments from the mainland can be
used as replacements for the squad
rons already based In Libya and
cargo-carrying aircraft may have
some utility, but air reinforcements
on a large scale can be used only
to the extent permitted by the sup
plies and base facilities already pres
ent In Africa.
The influence Of the fortress Of
Tobruk on the outcome of the battle
will form an interesting subject for
examination when the details are
fully known. An isolated enemy
stronghold on the flank of the line
of communications is q case well
known to military history; generally
the influence Of such q position has
been in direct proportion to the size
and mobility Of the field force which
1t contains. Thus the fortress Of
Pievna in 1877, flanking the pas
sages Of the Danube. was a check
on further Russian advance because
it contained the bulk of the Turkish
field army; the fortress Of Antwerp
in 1914 ceased to be a source of
anxiety to the German high COM
mand as soon as the Belgian field
army was withdrawn from 1t. Some
students of the last war still be-
lieve that the bulk of the British
expeditionary force should have
been thrown into Antwerp and
adjacent positions on the Belgian
coast, and that such q move would