ITALIANS CORNERED.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1279, 7 November 1911, Page 5

ITALIANS CORNERED.

CANNOT RETIRE EXCEPT BY SEA. TROOPS MUCH DEPRESSED. (Rec. November G, 9.35 p.m.) Malta, November G. Routers' Tripoli correspondent has arrived here. Ho states that ho is now able to givo an unbiased report. If the correspondents in Tripoli, however, attempted to state the facts they would bo immediately expelled. Tho Turks engaged in the fighting on October 23 and 26 did not number more than 2000, yet they inflicted losses totalling at least a thousand. The Italian line was broken on October 2G in two places by less than 200 Arabs, who rushed the Eighty-Fourth Regiment at dawn and gained cover in the oasis. A hundred dismounted Italian cavalry saved the situation by a charge, killing a majority of the Arabs. Thirty of tho Arabs, however, held their position for three days until they were blown up by mines. Tho General Much Alarmed. General Caneva became so alarmed that he abandoned tho Italian outer works, including the Turkish fort at Mesri. Tho army worked feverishly to render tho inner position impregnablo with entrenchments and barbed wires. Tho Turks and Arabs arc now holding tho oasis, where there is ample food, and every orchard and garden afford natural defences. Tho position is an ideal one as far as the Italian line. Headquarters Shelled. The Turks' advanced artillery dropped a shell on General Caneva's headquarters. The Italians have been driven to a point from which tlicy cannot retiro except by tho sea. • Tho troops have passed from the greatest elation to deep depression. Sandstorms 'aro occurring daily, with soaking rains at night. There are many cases of cholera, and the disease has broken out among tho troops.