740.0011 European War 1939/10038½: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom ( Winant ) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 16—10:16 p.m.]
1515. Personal for the President from the Former Naval Person.12
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- 3.
- I am personally not unduly anxious about the Libyan-Egyptian position. We estimate Germans have one colonial armoured division and perhaps the whole of one ordinary armoured division comprising say 600 to 650 tanks of which a good many have already been destroyed or have broken down. There are no German infantry in Cyrenaica except the few battalions comprised in the German armoured divisions. Difficulties of supply of petrol, food, water, and ammunition must be severe and we know from prisoners of the strain under which these audacious formations are working. We are naturally trying to bring our own armoured forces which were largely refitting at the time of the attack into action and are reinforcing Egypt from all parts of the Middle East where we have nearly half a million men. Tobruk I regard as an invaluable bridgehead or sally port. We do not feel at all outmatched at present in the air and are growing stronger constantly. [Page 270] The whole power of the Mediterranean Fleet which is being strongly reinforced will be used to cut the sea and coastal communications. There are of course Italian forces besides the Germans and we believe the Germans are now sending or trying to send a third armoured division from Sicily.
- 4.
- The repulse of the German attacks on Tobruk on the 14th and 15th seems to me important as this small fierce fight in which the enemy lost prisoners, killed, and tanks, together with aircraft, out of all proportion to our losses, is the first time they have tasted defeat and they are working on very small margins.
Meanwhile our efforts to turn off the tap have met with a noteworthy success in the Mediterranean. Our destroyers from Malta in the early hours of this morning, 16th, caught a German-Italian convoy of 5 large ships loaded with ammunition and mechanical transport and escorted by 3 Italian destroyers. The whole convoy and all its escort were sunk. We lost one destroyer in the fight. We are keeping the strength of our forces secret for the present. [Churchill.]
- Code name for Winston S. Churchill, British Prime Minister.↩