SWEEPING ON

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 143, 13 December 1940, Page 7

SWEEPING ON

CONQUERING FORCE

LONE FIGHTS IN PLACES LONDON, December 11. British "armoured forces are sweeping miles beyond Sidi Barrani to Libya. The British headquarters in Cairo point out, however, that fierce and confused fighting is still proceeding in the Sidi Barrani area. Meanwhile London is still in the dark about the actual details of the capture because of the difficulty of communications. The British spokesman at Cairo said that the battle has developed at some points into lone fights between comparatively small bodies of British and Italian troops. Dispatches from Benghazi (Libya) which were received in Home at 9.30 p.m. estimate that about 50,000 Allied troops were engaged in the attack on Sidi Barrani. The Italians were claimed to have stiffened their resistance and to have been fiercely defending the outpost half an hour after its fall was announced. Authoritative circles in London say that though the capture of Sidi Barrani is excellent news, the whole situation is still somewhat fluid. The importance of the taking of Sidi Barrani lies in the fact that the ,British have captured large quantities of equipment and stores, facilitating further advance.