IMPORTANT GAIN

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 117, 20 May 1941, Page 7

IMPORTANT GAIN

STRATEGICAL POSITION

BRILLIANT OPERATIONS BY THE BRITISH

(Rec. noon.) RUGBY, May 19. Great importance is attached to the capture of Amba Alagi, not only because it was very heavily defended, but because of its strategical position, lying across the lines of communication. Much interest attaches to the effect of the surrender on the small forces of Italians which are still resisting elsewhere. The Duke of Aosta was the Italian commander-in-chief in East Africa, but the situation has undergone a swift change in recent weeks. The Duke tried to hold the high ground, hoping that the heavy rains would bog the British in the lowlands, but the brilliant operations which have since occurred necessitated rapid changes of plan by the enemy, and it is understood that the Duke split his forces into three parts, which probably have since been operating as independent commands, the Duke retaining the most important of them. If the surrender of Amba Alagi is followed by the very quick collapse of the other enemy forces, it would cause little surprise in London. These two forces are in the neighbourhood of Gondar, west of Amba Alagi, and in Jimma, south-west of Addis Ababa. A month ago it was reliably estimated that there were 22,000 enemy troops in Jimma, but to what extent this number has been reduced by desertions, casualties.. and. the. capture of prisoners is hot definitely known. In Gondar, which is practically surrounded, there are probably about 8000 Italians and a few thousand native troops.—B.O.W.