Blie jßomfaum MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1941. THE ITALIAN ROUT CONTINUES

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 110, 3 February 1941, Page 6

Blie jßomfaum MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1941. THE ITALIAN ROUT CONTINUES

With the fall of Derna, the road to Benghazi, the most Italian port in Cyrenaica, is now open to the rapid advance of British Imperial forces and their allies Present indications are ha stiffer resistance may be encountered from now on. In the me 1 which has elapsed since the first Italian reverse at Sidi Bar ram, il e enemv has been strengthening his defences to the westw . Archibald Wavell’s rapid advance, first on Bardia and then on Tob) , wave the Italians very little time to carry out moie than emergency measures at those two points, and they were captured LernTthe tive ease But there was much stronger resistance at Derna, the enemv’s tactics being obviously designed to delay the further advanc. of the British as long as possible in order to enable the defende s o the Italian base at Benghazi to organize their P«P ar ation S stand before being driven out of Cyrenaica Beyond tha. are miles of desert before Tripoli, the capital of Libya, is reached. Inc dentally, Tripoli is now receiving marked attention fiom the Low AU SkArchibald Wavell’s aim clearly is to strike at Benghazi with the least possible delay. His advance troops are already cutting across the great bulge that forms the.eastern shoulder of the Gulf of bidia, a movement which, if successfully developed,, will effect the encirclement of his objective. Throughout the British opera ions in No h Africa to date, time has been the essence of the contract. Ilav % grasped and held the initiative, and got the enemy on the run, the British commander is capitalizing his first advantage with great ene & y and speed, breaking down the Italians’ resistance at every point and with each successful blow further weakening their morale everywhere. It has been said that the first attack, at Sidi Barram, was in the original intention simply a raid, but the result revealed opportunities that Sir Archibald was quick to realize and exploit to the utmost. In this he has exhibited the highest qualities of generalship, and fiom his brilliant advance has reaped a harvest of results of far-reaching importance in the Mediterranean area and m North-east Africa, as seen in the breakdown of Italian resistance on all fronts., in Kenya, Abyssinia, and Eritrea, and the immense stimulation given to the Greek army in Albania. , In these, operations Free French forces have co-operated and the psychological moment has now arrived for General de Gaulle o capitalize Sir Archibald Wavell’s successes by enlisting the. active and united support of the French throughout their colonial empire in Africa. He has already launched a spirited appeal to them to help to complete the conquest of Libya. An immediate and full response would have an appreciable effect on the general situation. Apart from the important repercussions of such a development within France itself, it would greatly strengthen the British commander s position in consolidating his gains. There are various indications that the Germans are making strong efforts to restore the position in the'Mediterranean. Italy is being infiltrated with Nazi divisions and the island of Sicily, the nearest Italian base to the North African coast, appears to be rapidly becoming a German base. According to General de Gaulle important developments in this area are impending, and the trend of events may have a ponderable influence on the general war situation. A great rallying of Free French forces from Algeria and Tunis would expose the Italians, in Libya to an on their rear as well as on their front, and in all probability bring the whole of the North African campaign to a speedy end before, the Germans had time to organize their forces for attempting serious mischief in the Mediterranean.