... STRENGTHENING the SHIPS of the LINE The New British Battleship H.M.S. Prince of Wales, Now in Commission H.M.S. REVENGE, ROYAL SOVEREIGN AND RAMI LLI ES --THREE BATTLESHIPS LAUNCHED DURING THE LAST WAR AND NOW IN THE FIRST LINE OF THE ROYAL NAVY THE MIGHT OF BRITAIN'S FIRST LINE OF SHIPS THE BATTLE-CRUISER RENOWN (NEAREST THE CAMERA), FOLLOWED BY THE HOOD, VALIANT, BARHAM. RODNEY ...

... FROM THE ISLAND OF MALTA Uur Heavily Bombed Possession in the Great Inland Sea OITUATED in mid-Mediterranean, Malta has vJ been subjected during recent months to heavy and concentrated bombardment from the air by Italian and German aircraft. And vali antly have the islanders withstood their ordeal. What we usually describe as Malta reallv consists of three islands Malta, Gozo and Comino the ...

... THc WAR SPREADS TO THE KIRKUK OIL-FIELDS: WHENCE RUNS THE PIPE-LINE FROM THE IRAQ OIL-PRODUCING CENTRE TO HAIFA ON THE MEDITERRANEAN. It is for Control of These Oil Wells That Fighting is Now Taking Place ^t Kirkuk and Mosul (which is near to the former) are British oil wells which are connected to the port of Haifa. Lying as they do to the rear of Turkey, these wells are greatly coveted by ...

... The STRUGGLE for the IRAQ OIL-FIELDS The Conflict Brought About by German Machinations in the Middle £os t WHERE THE PIPE-LINE FROM KIRKUK TO HAIFA BEGINS Formerly there were two lines one to Haifa, in Palestine, the other to Tripoli, in French Syria. The latter was cut at the beginning of the war but the former still functions, reaching the Mediterranean by way of Rutbah THE SECOND BIG OIL ...

... FIGHTING MEN WHO VANISH Some Striking Results of Camouflage When Used in the Field AN ARMY SNIPER AT WORK BEHIND A TREE-TRUNK The camouflage suit worn by this soldier has been specially designed at one of the Army centres now specialising in such work. From a distance the sniper is almost invisible, so cleverly does he merge into the landscape THIS IS NOT A TREE-STUMP OR A PILE OF ROOTS Look ...

... A WAR NEWSLETTER -No. 88 i, New Oxford Street, W.C.i. To My Readers.-- Occasion ally, I pause to collect together some of the requests and queries of THE SPHERE readers who write to me, and I try to return thanks to them in bulk and a mass answer to some of their questions or criticisms which, alas! I have no longer the time to answer individually. I note a request from a reader in S.VV. ...

... THE NEW GANAL AT GIBRALTAR FIELD-MARSHAL LORD GORT, who has been appointed Governor and Commander- in-Chief at Gibraltar WHERE THE CANAL HAS BEEN BUILT at the edge of the neutral territory between Spain and Gibraltar FOR THE PROTECTION OF GIBRALTAR FROM THE LANDWARD SIDE: The new water trench, which has converted the peninsula of Gibraltar into an island, and which is spanned by only one road ...

... THE BALKAN TRANSFORMATION And the Factors of Mechanical Superiority which have Brought It About in Favour of Germany AFFAIRS in the Middle East have entered upon a critical phase. The Germans have overrun Greece, they are on the frontiers of Turkey Most of Italian Libya is now back in the hands of the Axis Powers, and Egypt is again invaded. Such a transformation would seem incredible in such ...

... CRETE: ISLAND OF LIBERTY And Now the New Grecian G.H.Q. By FERDINAND TUOHY IF we decide to try and hang on to Crete, three principal reasons will operate: (1) it will enable the Greeks to carry on their fight for liberation from free Grecian soil; (2) it will give the Allies use of the first-rate harbour of Suda Bay, together with such air-base facilities as we have been able to organise in ...

... THE BATTLE OF THE PASSES A Record of the Retreat of the British and Imperial Forces through Greece, and the Series of Rearguard Actions Fought in the Mountainous Regions Specially Illustrated and Described This narrative begins at the period of the month of April when it became evident that a retirement from the planned line stretching some 150 miles from Monastir to Mount Olympus would have ...

... SUDA BAY, KEY HARBOUR OF CRETE One of the Best Natural Harbours in the Eastern Mediterranean By FRANK BOWEN THE present state of affairs in the Near East gives greatly added importance to Suda Bay in the Island of Crete, which is something like the ideal as a temporary naval base in the Eastern Mediterranean although it has not, of course, been given the permanent fittings of a dockyard. While ...

... HISTORIC P|j ICES OCCUPIED BY THE ENEMY PART OF THE HARBOUR OF THE PIR/EUS, from which some refugee ships left last week. The quays and shipping of the harbour were stated in enemy communiques to have been heavily bombed, but in spite of this, several ships containing returning correspondents, officials and notable people left the Piraeus for southern ports. In peacetime the harbour, which i ...