The The Bay of Plenty Times FRIDAY, JANUARY 10th, 1941 AXIS STOCKS FALL HEAVILY

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 13235, 10 January 1941, Page 4

The The Bay of Plenty Times FRIDAY, JANUARY 10th, 1941 AXIS STOCKS FALL HEAVILY

That Bardia would be captured by the British was never m doubt. The British High Command did not push for a quick victory and high casualties, but waited for the psychological momen . The Italians were cleverly deluded as to where the British would assault, and when the Australians did attack, the Italians -were taken by surprise and taken in the rear. In their assault the Australians suffered few casualties for a tremendous gain, tor they captured thousands of prisoners and paved the way tor the complete capture of Bardia with about 25.000 prisoners and supplies of w‘ir material. Mussolini has all along over-estimated the morale and valour of the Italian soldier. The Italians expected to get to Alexandria by Christmas, instead of which they have been driven out of Egypt into Libya, and now the British have secured an important base in Bardia. This base can be kept provisioned both by sea and land. There is a jetty at Bardia where small steamers can tie up. The bulk of the Army of the Nile is at Bardia, and they are not going to sit down there and nibble at their fingernails. In fact they are already threatening Tobruk. General Graziani is supposed to have about 200,000 men under his command, and the defences have been greatly strengthened. Graziani had plenty of men to reinforce the garrison at Bardia but he never attempted to do so. Now the British will clash with the main Italian army, and who can have any doubt about the result. The British are now in a position to withdraw all troops from Egypt, for the safety of Egypt and the Suez Canal is now assured, at all event the Egyptian troops are strong enough to provide an adequate garrison to guard the Canal. The entire British Army in Egypt and Libya, can now move up to the attack of Tobruk. The fall of Bardia must have a depressing effect on the Italians on all fronts, including Abyssinia, which makes us believe that the British will not have much trouble in dealing with Graziani. It is important, or it seems so, that the British should cripple the Italians to such an extent that it would be possible to make use in other waters of some units of the British Fleet now in the Mediterranean. There is some talk of the German air arm helping the Italians and that is quite possible. Germany may be able to find aircraft and airmen, but can she find the necessary oil? In any case, German help in the Mediterranean will not be very effective, and the R.A.F. is quite capable of dealing with both German and Italian aircraft. The fall of Bardia releases many British planes for service elsewhere. Germans know what the R.A.F. can do. Bremen supplies the latest example. On the whole the war situation shows the Axis stocks to be falling rapidly, and the situation affords convincing evidence of the growing certainty of British victory. A disagreeable feature is the raiders at sea. It is believed that these German raiders have been receiving accurate information of the sailing dates of overseas vessels from Australia and New Zealand, and even the composition of their cargoes. This makes it abundantly clear that the spies or traitors are in high places, for it is only the few who can obtain such accurate information. We may be sure that the proper authorities are seeking out the offenders, and we can leave it at that. In Australia there is a suggestion of imposing the death penalty on spies and traitors. This we think is a mistake, for the odum falls on the relatives and not on the spy who is put out of the way. A better deterrent punishment would be a flogging for then the spy would be passingthrough a living death and have time to reflect. It is known that while many spies are willing to run the risk of death, few are willing to run the risk of a flogging. This form of penalty should be tried.