ONWARD IN AFRICA

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 28, 3 February 1941, Page 6

ONWARD IN AFRICA

British armiesv in North-east Africa, on fronts extending from Derna on the Mediterranean to Italian Somaliland on the Indian Ocean, are relentlessly pressing on their attack on Italy's African Empire. Westward of Derna the Army of the Nile, under General Wavell, appears to be meeting a stronger resistance from the Italians in the hilly, settled country of Cyrenaica proper,. the choicest region of Italian North Africa, with its capital at Benghazi, but the advance continues on a wider front, with a thrust .inland across the peninsula towards the Gulf of Sidra, taking Benghazi in the rear. In this theatre of the war the Germans may be able to render assistance to their allies—and, according to report, are doing so—by aircraft based on 'Sicily. The pace of the British advance may therefore be* expected to slow down a little while the new base at Tobruk, with its deep-water harbour, is being cleared of sunken ships and debris for use by the Navy and sea transport services. On the other hand, "the pace of the attack on Italian East Africa has quickened. The Italian fortress of Agordat, on the railway passing through Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, to Massawa, the chief port, has fallen to the Army of the Sudan, a mixed Imperial force of British, Indian, and Sudanese troops, *in which North-west Frontier Indian soldiers are reported to be playing a great part. The Italians here are in full- retreat, but may try to make a stand in the mountains, round Asmara. In Abyssinia proper the patriot forces under Haile Selassie are scoring successes which may bring about a general withdrawal of the Italians from Western Abyssinia. In the south patrols of the South African and native forces have penetrated Italian territory and there are signs of a general advance. Everywhere the Air Force is giving the fullest support and preparing the" way for the final expulsion of the Italians from Africa and the dissipation of Mussolini's dream of a new Roman Empire.