HEAVY PRESSURE ON ITALIANS

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23263, 25 February 1941, Page 9

HEAVY PRESSURE ON ITALIANS

British Gains In ' East Africa KEREN MENACED FROM REAR ✓ (united prf.ss association— copyright.) (Received February 24, 11 p.m.) LONDON, February 24. Imperial forces with their Free French and Abyssinian allies continue to attack the dwindling Italian empire in Africa at all points. Keren, in Eritrea, is menaced from the rear as a result of the Allied advance in the coastal sector of Eritrea. Kubkub, 40 miles east-north-east of Keren, is also endangered. The size of motor transport columns which the Royal Air Force is attacking on the Addis Ababa-Asmara road indicates that the Italians are rushing up the strongest possible reinforcements in the hofie of holding Keren. The latest troop movement, to there is an entire division ot Grenadiers from Addis Ababa.

South African headquarters say it is difficult to envisage any new rallying point for the Italians in Somaliland before Mogadisho itself. The Italians lost their strongest natural defence in south Somaliland when they fell hack from the Juba river. The key point of the latest fighting in Italian Somaliland is Gelib, which is menaced 'by the fall of Bullo and Krillo to the north and by the crossing the South Africans have effected by capturing Jumbo in the south. This makes it difficult for the Italians to create any new rallying point before Mogadisho. * Bows and arrows have reappeared in the British Army in East Africa. It is not a throw-back to' medieval days, but a new and terrifying weapon, the arrows being charged with an incendiary mixture. Sudanese tribesmen famed for their archery and selected from irregular levies are using these incendiary arrows in the onening phase of the siege of Asosa, near the Sudan border. Huts Set on Fire The tribesmen shoot their arrows at a range of 300 yards. The bowmen creep up at night and loose a hail of arrows on the tvass huts of which Asosa mainly consists. The soft thud of the impact is inaudible to the enemy. A few seconds later the incendiary mixture flares up and the huts are soon a mass of flames. Asosa is an important Italian military base. It was intended as a jump-ing-off place for an invasion of the southern Sudan last autumn. The recent successes on the Sudanese frontier are now enabling columns of East Africans and Sudanese, with the support of Belgian Congo forces, to press on from the north and south to heighten its siege. The fires lit by arrows and fed by costly stores provide a beacon for them, the flame-lit pillars of smoke being visible from 30 miles away. The latest communique from British General Headquarters in Cairo states: “Libya—There is no change in the situation. “Eritrea—Our column moving down the Red Sea littoral from the north, reinforced by Free French forces from French Equatorial Africa, is again making satisfactory headway, while British forces about Keren continue their preparations for the reduction of Italian positions covering the town. “Abvssinia—A joint force of British and patriot troops has occupied Shogahi, -on the Blue Nile. An enemy counter-attack was repulsed, the Italians leaving more than 150 dead. The British losses were slight. "Italian Somaliland—British troops have occupied Jumbo, near the mouth of the Juba river, capturing prisoners and material. Operations east of the river are continuing.” . The Free French forces mentioned in the communique brought rifles, machine-guns, and all equipment except artillery, which the British have supplied. Their commander, a colonel who left Vichy in November, said: “I hope that the news of our arrival in Eritrea will bring many more French to our cause. The majority of Frenchmen are pro-British and many would join General de Gaulle, but it is difficult to leave France.” Heavier Air Raids

The tempo of British air attacks on Italian positions is increasing. Gura, Keren, and Asmara are being raided without respite. Bombers are returning two and sometimes three times a day to attack these points. A Nairobi communique says: On Friday, South African Air Force bombers attacked enemy troop concern (rations near Oboie, about 30 miles south-west of Brava, in Italian Somaliland. Trenches were machine-gunned and bombed. "Reconnaissance squadrons have been "very active during the last few, days in the Gelib, Moyale, Mega, and Bardera areas." » A communique issued by Royal AirForce headquarters in the Middle East savs:—-“As a result of <ln attack by South African fighters on Massawa aerodrome, fires were started among forts and buildings. At Burse, the Royal Air Force bombed and machinegunned troops and positions east of the town. . ~ , "It is now learned that aS a result of an encounter near Brava on Wednesday, between Australian fighters and a number of Junkers 78 s and Messerschmitt 110’s, one Junkers and one Messerschmitt were destroyed. “From all these operations, one British fighter is missing.” An Italian communique says: An enemy attack in the Kanchewa zone in Eritrea was repulsed. A motorised column was also repulsed in the lower Juba area. Enemy aeroplanes bombed the locality of Gojjam.” BOMB DAMAGE AT NAPLES (Received February 24, 8 p.m.) LONDON, February 23 The Special German News Agency says that Signor Mussolini has allocated 15.000.000 lire for the reconstruction of 360 dwellings to accommodate residents of Naples who have been bombed out of their homes. GERMANS IN FRENCH MOROCCO LONDON, February 23. The Tangier correspondent of ‘“The Times" says it is reliably stated that about 150 Germans are in Casablanca, in French Morocco. They include men in uniform armed with "Tommy” guns, and also propagandists who are influencing the Arabs.