Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1942-06-23
British AIibis
Can't Explain
Libya Defeat
Superiority Ever where
Overcome by RommeI
BY PAUL MALLON

was just too bad"
The British had superiority in
the air. on the sea and on the
land-in tanks, planes, ships,
troops. There was nothing wrong
with their battle strategy that
could be discerned here. yet
Rommel pushed them back.
Official alilbis are now pour
ing forth in volume, but the
overall alibi is not being
stressed. 1t is clear that Rom
mel just ,outmaneuvered them.
Inferior in overall fighting
strength. he picked specific
limited detectives. He searched
for soft spots in the British line,
then hammered these with con-
centrations of all he could mus
ter.
THE British tried TO hold
i everywhere - Biz Achem,
Acroma, Sid Rezegh. after the
Nazis had cut narrow lanes
through their defensive mine
fields. They divided their forces,
placing the divisions at these
and other key places.
Rommel went at these key
points one by one. Following
Napoleon's theory, he hit each
point separately, each time
mastering a superior force at
that chosen spot.
Finally he split the British in
half. one part remaining in
Tobruk and the other seeking
the natural protection Of the
Egyptian border.
The NaZi troops were tougher
and better ira ined than the
British, particularly better than
the last British reinforcementS
from Egypt.
Then, too. the British were so
confident that the intolerable
summer heat would prevent any
extensive Nazi operations. they
did not throw their full strength
into the battle as soon as the
Germans did.
HERE again, as at Singapore.
II il was evident also that
some Britishers still indulge
themselves in the theory, if not
in the practice. of time out for
Scotch and sodas, siestas or
cricket.
The troops fought hard and
I h GU & h [ they had Rommel
trapped when they set him back
from Biz Achem. Having air
superiority, they bombed his
thin supply lines running back
in the lanes through the mine
fields.
This s hould have won for
them, but they then encountered
too much Rommel and too much
weather. The crafty Nazi used
every kind of vehicle which
would haul water or gas. and
his troops went for long stretches
without water.
British soldiers, escaping from
German prison camps, said that
they had gone 48 hours without
water, and when they COM
planned, Rommel's officers as
serted they had no water for 48
hours either.
A sandstone came up and
Rommeps caravans were able to
slip through unobserved by Brit
ish planes.
IF YOU want a good technical
l. excuse. you may find il in
the Gearman 8S-millimeter anti
tank and anti-aircraft gun. Most
of the tanks in the fight were
British. The relatively small
number of our General Grants
performed well, according to all
accounts.
But Rommel used his superior
gun on self-propelled and towed
mounts TO devastating effect.
That dual purpose gun has an
extremely high muZzle velocity
and is highly respected.
When Rommel retreated the
first time he concentrated them
in narrow defiles in which he
trapped many a British tank.
For another thing, Rommel
used his planes in close support
Of his tanks, while the British
let the tanks go alone and used
their planes mainly TO bomb
Rommefs supply lines talthough
this is choice most generals
would have made.)
Despite Rommel's victory, he
has lost a lot of tanks, and there
is every reason TO hope he can
not go on into Egypt 10 break
the grasp Of the United Nations
on the Middle East before fall
and things may be different for
our side there by fall. If he can
find more soft spots. he might
try to crash through. but the
British are apparently not de-
moraliZed.
MANY a congressional author
A'l ity put this Near East stu
alton and the Russian difficulties
at Sevastopol and Kharkov to-
gether with Winston Churchill's
visit TO Mr.. Roosevelt.
We are getting supplies into
Egypt. but mostly the long way
around the Cape of Good Hope.