BITTER PILL FOR ITALY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 118, 21 May 1941, Page 7

BITTER PILL FOR ITALY

FRUSTRATED EFFORT

DUKE'S DISHEARTENING

TASK

LONDON, May 20,

The importance of the capture of the Duke of Aosta and all the forces in the Amba Alagi area is stressed by a military commentator in London, who says:

"This is indeed a bitter pill for Italy to swallow. Though it was impossible for the Germans to send directhelp to their partners in Abyssinia, the Italian radio made no secret of the desperate messages that, were sent from Rome urging the Duke to hold out at all costs so as to pin down the British forces opposing him. But all his efforts have failed, and now we shall be in a position to redistribute our forces that have been fighting in Italian East Africa. "The Duke's task must have been a disheartening one. Since January 19, when we retook Kassala, the Italian troops in East Africa have been defeated and driven back on all sides, losing enormous quantities of men and material. The object of the campaign was the conquest of a vast country, mountainous, undeveloped, subject to jextremes of heat and tropical rainfall, and defended by a large and wellequipped Italian army.

"The Italians boasted that their own conquest of Abyssinia had been a marvel of speed. Yet it took them seven months to reach Addis Ababa, a distance of 425 miles, when they were opposed by ill-equipped native levies, and as against that General Cunningham's column covered the 1150 miles from the south to Addis Ababa in 50 days, opposed by Italy's best forces, fully trained, and equipped with modern weapons."—U.P.A.

The military spokesman in Cairo emphasised the importance of the capture of the road junction of Dalle, as this cuts off the only reasonable chance of escape for the two Italian divisions in the Jimma district, and they can now only take, to the bush. The Italians have a particular aversion to the bush, because of the patriots who are lurking there. —U.P.A.