The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1942-06-22
Egypt
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agems Of war on two continents,
/ il not in the whole world.
So extended and intertwined
are causes and effects of this
CALLING capitulation that military
experts we're hard-pressed to
trace them all but it was obvious
| that the Axis triumph was fore
/ ing a drastic reshaping, if not
poStponement or abandonment,
of some plans of the United Ma
/ tions.
Rome, first to claim the cap
ture of Tobruk with six British
generals reported among the
prisoners, proclaimed today:
Occupation Of Tobruk has
been completed, and Axis troops
are marching toward the Egyp-
/ tan frontier
BRITISH DIG IN
The British forces which es-
capped the Axis sweep we're dig
/ ging in along the Egyptian from
. tier.
The Hitler command credited
a German mosquito boat flotllla
with complete destruction of a
| formation of small British coast
al craft and freighters fleeing
/ from Tobruk yesterday morning
One patrol boat, six coastal
craft and a 4,500-ton freighter
we're sunk and three other coast
al craft captured 175 men
aboard, the Berlin communique
. said.
Off the Dutch coast, the Ger
mans said, three of Britain'S mos
. quito boats - motor torpedo
craft-were sunk in an engage
ment last night with German
minesweeperS and several other
British vessels we're badly dam
aged.
In the air war Of Europe blow
and counter blow were struck by
| the British and Germans last
night. The Germans bombing
at Southampton in their heavi-
esta raid of three weeks. Raj
formations of 200 to 800 planes
attacked the German naval base
! of Emden Saturday night.
BY daylight toda a large force
had another 60 at the French
coast in the Dunkerque region.
RUSSIA FOCAL POINT
But until the willy German
commander for North Africa,
Marshal Rommel, starts an east
ward offensive against Egypt to
exploit his sweep of eastern Lib
va or barring some other unfor-
seen move by the Axis or the
United Nations, the battle Of
Russia will hold the spotlight.
That colossal conflict entered
its second year today.
/ The German high command
announced capture of the last
coastal fort in clearing the de-
Tenders from the northern side
/ of Sevastopol, Russian Black Sea
base. which has stood as a rear
guard threat to any renewal OF
Germany's drive toward the eau
casus. The Russians acknoWled-
ged that wedge had been drlV-
en- into the defenses there.
There was a roundabout re
port that the battle Of Sevastopol
had been carried into the streets
of that historic Crimean city with
fighting of unprecedented vlo-
lenCe."
How long human flesh could
bear up against the frlghttul
pressure of the numerically su-
perior German and Rumanlan
besiegers Of Sevastopol was a
grave question. A German sue
cess at Sevastopol is almost
surely to be followed by the
opening Of an offensive against
the Caucaus.
$4,000 CAPTURED
The axis claimed capture of
$4,000 prisoners in Tobruk, a
sizcablc chunk Of the eighth
British Imperial army which the
United Nations had been count
ing on to shield the western
flank of Alexandria, Suez and
the entire middle east position.
Moreover, the latest Italian
communique announced that
captured equipment included
100 tanks, several hundred guns
and hundreds of motor vehicles.
It was probable that the booty
included shipments recently con-
voyed at considerable cost into
Tobruk when the British still
hoped the port could be held, as
hitherto, as a thorn in the flank
Of the axis drive eastward to-
ward the Egyptian frontier.
But Tobruk's fall could not be
assessed fully in terms Of pris-
oners and tanks captured. It
was more likely that it had
spiked allied hopes for a second
front in Europe this year and
had prolonged the war.
The axis seemed to have won
for itself the complete initiative
i'm the European-AfriCan theatre