ARMY READY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 305, 2 October 1940, Page 5

ARMY READY.

FOR A BREAK IN EGYPT.

AWAITING ITALIAN ATTACK LONDON, October 1. The correspondent of the ‘ 'Daily Telegraph” who travelled 200 miles by road from Alexandria to r the defence line in the Western-Desert, says the British Army is patiently waiting to do 'battle with the Italian: forces: " ; “Just one hour’s drive from hens,” he writes, “acroks the savage broken plain, Mussolini has piled up a store of arms ready to. -break on, Egypt. Mases of ' Italian army vehicles are gathered m thte- Sidi Banrani sector. Red-cloaked Bedouin tribesmen are leading their flocks and little groups of timid, sloe-eyed - wives deep into the dtesert for safety. Here and there a camel has blundered on a- land-mine and its carcase lies rotting in the sub. “Tiie gunnery of the Italians'is good. A British brigadier told me that they use ar tilery very quickly and soundly, and also handle their motorcycltes and side-ears effectively. A mass of them ride about 3000 yards ahead of an advancing column, and disperse among the rocks when they confront opposition, and await their supports. “But the whole Italian advance has been slow, simple, and covering only about five miles a day.” The correspondent adds: “Our dugouts have been- increased and deepened. The defenders have Income immune. from attack from the air, but not from rats which infest the trenches.”