The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-01-07
British Forces Move
 Up Fast Upon Tobruk
Continued from Page 1.)

', forces. All the planes had been put out of commission by RAF bombs, it was said.
 The Royal Air Force communique was made public as the middle east high command reported that oper- ations toward Tobruk' are pro- ceeding satisfactorily.
 The RAF reported that raids on ToBruk and the Italian bases at Derna and Martuba further up the Libyan coast had been carried out Monday but that full details of the results could not be observed.
 At Tobruk the bombing attack was centered on the harbor and mil- itary objectives.
 Battle In Air
 RAF planes shot down an Italian CR 42 in the Tobruk region and an- other Italian fighter was believed destroyed. Other Italian planes were damaged, it was reported. Another attack on the important Italian harbor of Valona ill Albania was reported. The attack was car- ried out despite bad weather, rain and low clouds.
 Bombs were reported to have burst among buildings and ware houses in the vicinity of the Valona docks and several fires started.
 The British planes were intercept ed by Italian fighters in the Valona raid. One British plane was lost and two Italian planes were believed l downed.
 The communique threw little light on the swift British push across the desert which appears to have start ed even before the Italian garrison at Bardia finally surrendered to the smashing assault of Australian troops.
 | This was in accord with the policy which General Sir Archibald Wa we'll has followed at each stage of his decisive operations against the ' ...alian forces of Marsha; l.ss;;::>:oo.<o ls;;::too.<o Graziani.
 The high command reported la conically today:
 Tn Libya operations toward To- bruk are proceeding satisfactorily In the Sudan, east of Gallabat our patrols again inflicted casualties on the enemy. In Kenya there was no change"
 It was believed here that the high commands reference to "op- erations toward Tobruk" referred to the main body of British forces Sicne advance SkirmiShers, presum- ably light mechanical units, already have been reported nearing the outer ring of Tobruk defenses
 Tcbruk May Be Easier
 Tobruk, it was believed, may not be able to put up such strong re- sistance as did the Italian garrison at Bardia. The British are able to advance along two good macadam- ized roads constructed by the Ital- ianS.
 The bases possesses good surfaced landing field for airplanes but has inadequate water supplies to with stand lengthy sie~e. The town is bigger than Bardia, boasting a population of 10000 but it is not believed to be so strongly fortified although the Italians presumably have employed the three. weeks breathing space given by Bardia's siege to strengthen their fortifica- tionS.
 Tobruk is protected by series of perimeter forts somewhat longer than teh chain around Bardia. The garrison, however, twas thought to ! k .,,oo IJox. nVaA 1occ wall orY,oa-J fhoVn at Bardia.
 Most estimates placed Italian strength at Tobruk at about two di- visions, possibly slightly less than 30,000 men.
 British armored cars, it was re- vealed, have been patrolling the raods from Bardia to Tobruk since December IT in order to prevent Italian efforts to impede the British ] advaOcn hV destroying the highway