NOT IMPORTANT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 220, 16 September 1940, Page 8

NOT IMPORTANT.

OCCUPIED VILLAGE. Evacuation Of Solium. Began Last Month. British Official Wireless. EUGBY, Sept. 15. It was announced in Saturday's Cairo communique that the Italianshad occupied the empty village of Solium. It will be recalled that as long age as August 3 the Commander-in-Chief in the Middle East announced that he had begun to withdraw armoured troops from the Solium area and that with the withdrawal a definite phase of the action on the Libyan frontier was over—a phase which had lasted much loiiger than had been anticipated. Since the Egyptian frontier force withdrew in the first week of the war with Italy so as to avoid involving Egypt in hostilities, the barracks on an escarpment above Solium had been held by not more than one company of British infantry. Againet this the Italians had concentrated two complete divisions with corps troops and artillery of a third division.

Solium has no national or military importance of any kind. Its little harbour is provided with a rough breakwater and has not been used or even visited by any war vessel for many yeare. As a civilian centre it possesses few buildings and the normal population is under 1000. As a military base it is ruled out by the fact that it has no water supply. In the view of military experts the possession of Solium will not even facilitate the advance of the Italians along the coast road leading to Mersa Matruh, for the escarpment on top of which the barracks stand is virtually precipitous and the only routes down it to the coast suitable for motor traffic have been destroyed. It will take a long time to repair them. Frontier Posts Strengthened. There is evidence that the Italians are strengthening posts on the LibyanEgyptian frontier, but they have not an offensive. In spite of Italian numerical superiority, Italian tactics on the Libyan frontier so far have been purely defensive. All operations have been on the Italian side of the frontier. British forces have carried out a number of raids and, while in the northeri. sector these have only o-o - *- .r t distance into Italian territory, for instance, toCapuzzo, British mobile forces Ir-tve penetratpd more deeply in the southern sector.