DEFENCE OF CAUCASUS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 62, Issue 8, 21 October 1941, Page 2

DEFENCE OF CAUCASUS

BASES IN IRAN AND IRAQ BRITISH AID TO! RUSSIA LONDON, October 17. British forces will buttress the southern Russian armies in the Caucasus Mountains, states a special correspondent of the “Daily Exuress” in Cairo. General Sir Archibald Wavell (Commander-in-Chief in India) is cooperating closely with the Royal Air Force } and he has a sure chain of bases across Northern Iran and Irak. It is considered unlikely that the Russians will yet ho forced to retire to the mountains, but new bases, built under Allied supervision, await them, spanning the Georgian oilfields and most of Iran. The resistance of the Royal Air Force will increase as the Germans ad vance, with British long-range bombers operating from aerodromes still beyond the Germans’ reach. Tiflis is the potential southern military headquarters for the Russians, who are massing defences at Astrakart, which is thought to be the ultimate German objective. Air bases on the Caspian Sea supporting the Red Army are now also open to the Royal Ail Force. In addition to bases at Tiflis and Astrakan, the bases at minor towns to the south and east of the Russian oil country are fast being developed as depots to receive and distribute supplies f ro m India and America. Long British motor convoys are each night streaming north from Middle East ports. Speed is essential, because the weather is not impeding the Gormans on the Black Sea front and the roads in the Ukraine are fairly solid.

Since the Iranian and Syrian campaigns, roads and railways have so developed that the Russians can expect continual supplies throughout the winder.