FATE OF BARDIA SEALED

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 82, 31 December 1940, Page 7

FATE OF BARDIA SEALED

Garrison Must Give In Or Die ALL EXITS BARRED Fleet Pouring In HighExplosives (By Telegraph.—Prescs Astsu. —Copi’rig-lit.) LONDON, December 29. The steel ring is steadily drawing tighter round Bardia, says the Cairo correspondent of the “Sunday Express.” The garrison of 20.000 Italians is completely trapped and must surrender or be slaughtered. The British Army blocks the land routes out of the town, and the Fleet blocks the sea entrances. Nightly the Fleet pours in high-explosives and fire bombs, and the harbour district and the waterfront are now in ruins. Added to all this is the continuous bombing by the Royal Air Force. Signor Ansaldo declared iu Borne that Bardia is not a bastion, as the British claimed. Its desperate resistance, he said, is explained by reasons of morale and because the soldiers were irritated by the enemy boasting after the capture of Sidi Barrani. The Italians also regard the port as a prop during fluctuations in the fortunes of the war in Libya. An Italian communique reports increased artillery and patrol activity on the Bardia front ' and claims that lightning Italian columns, manoeuvring in co-operation with the air force, destroyed some British armoured cars. It says that the enemy bombed some Italian localities in Ethiopia.