Word: flanks
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...into the Barents Sea, where Russian submarines had reported sinking several Nazi transports, the Russians set off in warships crowded with soldiers in ponderous winter clothing. They wheeled wide around the German left flank on the shore, then steamed in and landed their fighting...
...only does Malta straddle the Axis supply route to Libya; it also threatens the left flank of any Axis drive along the African coast toward Egypt. Submarines glide in & out of the harbor at Valletta. The dockyard repairs surface ships up to cruiser size. Bombers and fighters come out of hiding in hangars dug deep in the limestone and take off from rocky fields in the hills. The British believe that Malta's concentration of anti-aircraft guns is the heaviest in the world, not even excepting Moscow...
Untested. To reach these modern treasures, without warring on Turkey, the Axis must strike back from Rhodes and other Dodecanese islands and either conquer Cyprus or by-pass it. In a by-pass the normally confused Italian navy would be wide open to flank attacks. To conquer Cyprus, the Axis planes would be farther away (200 miles) from land bases than in last year's attack on Crete. Even if British fighter planes were chased off Cyprus bases, there were other fields only 66 miles away on the Syrian mainland...
...Axis offensive was getting under way, Malta on the western flank and Cyprus on the east were shields to ward off the first blows. Malta's metal was well tested. So far in World War II, Malta has had nearly 2,000 air raids and is still unconquered. Attacks last week sometimes lasted from dawn to dark, but the raid-toughened Maltese, using the caverns which honeycomb the island as air-raid shelters, carried on much as usual. Even the goats were so learned in raids that they flounced into ditches when the sirens wailed...
...much chance have the Allies got to drive the Japs from the East Indies by frontal assault from Australia? Admiral Hart grinned at his questioner and said: "A frontal attack is always the most difficult-a flank attack always easier...