A considerable German force participated in Friday's abortive attack against the outer defences in the south-west sector of Tobruk, according to the latest reports received in well-informed circles here. The fighting is described as fairly tough, but the position at the close of the day' s engagement was left more or less the same.
Persistent enemy efforts to break through the defences are regarded as proof of the measure of incofivenience which the British hold on Tobruk is causing him, A raid by a British mechanized column on the Sollum area is described as a wide, sweeping movement. on the model of those which preceded the capture of Tobruk in December. The column reached the Bardia-Tobruk road, returning with prisoners and without sustaining casualties, In Abyssinia, good progress is being made, and the enemy's position at Amba Alagi is becoming uncomfortable. A British column advancing north has now reached Val Dia. Although Val Dia is some distance from Amba Alagi, there is no considerable obstacle in the path of the, British advance.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.