Evening star., 1942-06-03
British in Libyo Circle 30 Miles
To Romme|s Rear as Germans
Seize Control of 9-Mi|e GoD
Nuzi Consolidation
Move Effected With
Sundstorm Screen
By the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
CAIRO, June 3.-The British
said today their desert forces
had circled 80 miles to the rear
of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's
African Corps AND seized one of
the main strongholds guarding
its vital line of supply, but ac-
knowledged that the shrewd Nazi
commander had won control of
a 9-mile-wide shortcut through
the British main front.
A sandstorm which screened the
Libyan battle zone in brown haze
apparently masked the consolidating
move in which Marshal Rommel
pulled his forces together in the
nine-mile area between gaps pre-
viously opened through the British
tninef1eld along the Ain El Gazala-
Bir Hacheim line.
Reports from the battlefront said
there was no sign of a letup in the
terrific pace of fighting. These ac-
counts said two Axis forces which
bored their way to junction in the
gap in the British line some u
miles north of Bir Hacheim were
engaging the British to the north
and south.
BY his move Marshal Rommcl
opened a direct connection with his
supply lanes to the west.
British Shift to Offensive.
There was no immediate indica-
ton whether he hoped to muster
sufficient power for a new blow
across the wreckage-strewn sand
flats toward Tobruk or would con-
tinue his previous withdrawal.
However, the new-won British po-
sition astride his supply line cut
deep into his chance of replacing
lost or battered equipment.
The captured strong point was
Rotunda Segnali, a long established
Axis supply base, and the penetra-
ton indicated that the British had
shifted to the offensive, swinging
for knockout against the battered
Axis forces as the widest of all the
see-saw battles of Libya stretched
into its second week.
Rotunda Segnali is A miles west
of KnightSbridge, the desert trail
crossing which now lies east of the
csnter of fighting. The war bulletin
said considerable part of the action
Yesterday was in the area west of
Knightsbridge.
Dust Storms Hamper Operations.
An RAF communique said aerial
operations had been curtailed by
dust storms but enemy mechanical
units north of Biz Hacheim were
bombed and our fighter aircraft were
active in the forward area"
The communique also reported an
RAF raid Monday night on an Ital-
ian submarine base at Augusta,
Sicily.
Vital advantages lay with the
British, lunging back against an
Axis offensive which thus far has
been a costly failure.
Chief among these were domina-
ton of the skies, possession of the
battlefield and superiority of
weapons proved in a week of fight
ing in the blistering heat of North
Africa.
The British were bringing their
advantages to bear and the RAF in
a superb display of land-air CO.
ordination, joined its bombs with
the firepoWer of the mechanized
land forces.
Although the British, too, were
suffering considerable losses, they
had greater initial strength and the
enemy was leaving the battlefield
clear for salvage crews which will
be able to put many damaged
machines back into action.
Raj Blows Tell Heavily.
Marshal Rommels retreat through
the minefield gaps was an apparent
attempt to shorten his long supply
lines. But the almost exclusive at
tention of the RAF to the enemy
supply route-bombing and strafing
supplies and motorized infantry
was telling heavily.
All through yesterday the air
assault persisted and hundreds of
trucks were set afire while Britain's
tanks plunged on the enemy's heels,
trying to keep as much as possible
of his strength from reaching home
territory.