ITALIANS RETIRE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 124, 7 March 1941, Page 5

ITALIANS RETIRE.

HARASSED BY PATRIOT ARMY. ADDIS ABABA THREATENED. REVOLT SPREADS RAPIDLY. ' (Roc. 1.30 a.m.) LONDON, Mar. 6. Abyssinian patriots were known last night to be harassing the Italians withdrawing in Gojjam Province toward Dobra Markos after the fall of Burye., A military spokesman in Cairo said: “The native revdlt in the Gojjam Province of. Abyssinia is spreading like wildfire, while the patriot forco undei British officers is pushing on relentlessly after the capture of Fort Burye Tljri various Italian garrisons in the Gojjam Province aggregate 20,000, the bulk® of which, under patriot pressure, is withdrawing gradually from tko western borders to Addis Ababa, aban-, donirig one strong point after another. “Burye is 160 miles north-west of Addis Ababa, but Debra Markos, to which the Italians are falling back, is 40 miles nearer the capital and is connected with it by road suitable for motor traffic in dry weather. ’’ The unbounded enthusiasm for Haile Selassie in Gojjam is shown by the women wearing little gold Lions of Judah in their hair. Men and boys are digging up weapons hidden foi years. Meanwhile, the news of the Gojjam successes is feeding the flames of revolt, in the Shoa Province, until to-day they threaten the capital >tself. Tho Italians are taking sucli precautions that Addis Ababa resembles a vast concentration camp surrounded by a most elaborate system of barbed wire defences. An English-speaking Abyssinian who reached the British lines after a daring journey from Addis Ababa told the Khartoum correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” that Addis Ababa had been converted into an entirely Italian city. All Abyssinians had boon removed, to a specially built native town several miles away. Nobody can enter or leave the wired-in area in Addis Ababa without five guarantors known to the Italians to vouch for Ills reliability. The gates are closed at sunset. Abyssinian patriots have occupied Mansuka, a village eight miles east of Debra * Markos. Communiques reflect the lull on the other African fronts. In Italian Somaliland the British Imperial Forces continue to advance, and with the capture of Buxnb Burti. the whole of-the railway running from Mogadisho is now in British hands. Some 200 more prisoners were taken at this place.. Elsewhere in East Africa tho position remains largely unchanged.